The Stargate IS
by Bads25
Summary: James was simply a mechanic at the SGC when he decided to mess around in an IS unit. Little did he know how much his life would change from that single decision. Will he survive being the second male IS pilot? Will he end up with a harem or will he find the girl of his dreams? Will the Goa'uld enslave earth or be defeated? Find out as this epic story starts off! Rated M justincase
1. Chapter 1

**WHATS UP GUYS! Bads25 here bringing you my SECOND fanfiction story, a cross over between the Stargate universe and the Infinite Stratos universe! Now, before you jump in, let me clarify something. I created this after reading the ONLY OTHER STARGATE/IS CROSSOVER, and I really liked the first few chapters that were a prologue of sorts, so I decided that if you want a good intro to the IS/STARGATE universe then I recommend you go and check that out. That being said, I might also take a couple ideas from their work, but put my own twist on everything. KEEPING THAT IN MIND, my character was not on SG-1, nor will he have much interaction with them or the SGC for quite some time. This is going to be a really long story that spans the whole 3 years to graduate the IS academy and then some with various missions with the SGC. Also, ill add a link to the story for those of you who wish to read it and get the intro... even though its the ONLY OTHER CROSSOVER**

**Now, without further delay, let's get into the story! And as always, please review. I try to take all my writing seriously so your feedback is important to me!**

**CHAPTER 1**

**Holy shit, how did this happen?!**

'I have no idea how the hell all of this happened,' I thought to myself over the roar of the twin jet engines. There were several men in suits around me, and to my surprise a couple lookalikes. Christ, just because I got the damn thing to move doesn't mean I need this much security. The entourage and I slowly boarded the plane, heading to Japan or, more specifically, the IS academy there. Taking my seat up in first class, I looked out the window and saw that there would be two IS units coming with us, as well as a couple F-22 fighter jets. All this hardware and military power was being used to transfer a single person, me, because I just so happen to be able to move a damn IS. 'Alright James,' I thought to myself as I finally settled in for the flight, 'think back to two weeks ago. How did this happen.'

**_Two weeks earlier_**

"This sucks dude! Why do we have to clean and repair the IS's! We're not even on duty today!" Robert complained. He always complained though, and that's why the two of them were friends. Both of us were fresh into the military after enlisting as soon as we came of age, we signed up looking for positions as mechanics. After a grueling boot camp, we were given our chance to show our stuff as mechanics and blew the instructors expectations out of the water and landing ourselves the prestigious posting at the Cheyanne Mountain complex. More specifically, a special division located within called the SGC.

We had meet when we first got to boot camp, being thrown into the mud by our CO. It's too bad we didn't know he was our CO at the time, otherwise we wouldn't have said what we did, like telling him he can put his opinions of us where the sun wont shine. During our 10 laps around the base as punishment, a 5 mile run for a single lap, we quickly became the best of friends, having each other's back whenever the other got into trouble, and more than once sharing the unfair punishments that came with it. Not that either one of us ever complained, well, we did but it was good natured, just like now.

"Oh shut it Rob," I said to him, "I'd rather not get stuck on a run around the damn mountain due to complaints. Besides, it's an IS! Do you have any idea how badly I've wanted to see one of these in person, let alone be able to use one!"

"Good luck with that! You know just as well as everyone else that only girls can pilot the IS. Damn shame though, it would be nice if at least one guy could use it." Robert said as he replaced one of the panels that had taken a direct blast.

"Well there's rumors that some kid in japan was able to use an IS." I commented, grabbing a step ladder and moving it closer to the IS. Shooting a look at Robert, I climbed into the pilot's seat.

"Dude don't break anything. I don't want to be punished because you broke the IS." Robert groaned despite his smile. He was enjoying this just as much as I was.

"Come on, you know that you would do the same thing. Hell, you have! Remember last month?" I said, a grin forming on my face. Robert just waved me off and said he was going to get a drink. I latched myself into the 'seat' if it could be called that and put my arms into their respective slots. I then started to play around, acting like I was in battle and making phew phew noises with my mouth.

Suddenly the IS started to move, the arms following my every move and my legs walking without problem. The HUD popped up in front of me and I immediately opened a com line to Robert.

"DUDE GET BACK IN HERE IM MOVING THE IS!" I shouted with glee.

"Come on dude, give it a rest. We got work to do." He said with a sigh.

"Robert, I'm not kidding you. I'm moving the IS without problem. How else would I be talking to you? You know my radio broke yesterday!" I exclaimed, receiving a prompt response from Robert.

"I'm on my way. This better be real dude, cuz if it's not, I'm gona beat you." He said. A minute later, Robert came running in through the door and froze. After a sudden silence, he shouted "DUDE YOUR OPPERATING AN IS!"

"I KNOW MAN! THIS IS AWSOME!" I yelled, walking over to him and picking him up gently. "As much as I'm having fun dude, we need to let the general or our CO know. This is big!"

"Yeah, your right. But holy crap man! THE SECOND MALE IS OPERATOR IS MY BEST FRIEND!" he exclaimed, giving me a thumbs up in approval. I walked out the maintenance bay doors and started down the hall to our CO's room. We passed several people, all of whom were shocked to see me **IN** the IS, let alone **OPPERATING** it! We reached the CO's room and I set Robert down. He knocked on the door and was let in. A few seconds later, the CO came out and stared in shock at what he was seeing.

"H-HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO DO THAT!?" The CO shouted, drawing the attention of General Hammond who happen to be walking by just then.

"Manage what?" he said as he walked over, only to see that the IS pilot wasn't a woman, but a man. "Alright, I see what you're talking about Sargent. Boy, what's your name?"

"James B. Reverend sir!" I said, saluting the general after taking my arms out of the arm slots.

"Well James, your days of being a mechanic are over." Hammond said.

The next two days weren't as hectic as I thought they would be. In fact, they were quite the opposite since I was placed in a holding room and interrogated. They asked how I was able to pilot the IS and how I was even allowed near one. After explaining it all to them, they put me in a room with Robert for a day then whisked us off on a transport to Area 51. Upon arrival, we were made to sign forms saying we would never speak of what we saw there unless otherwise authorized to do so.

After that we were taking to another room and locked up for the remainder of the day until a man in a suit came in. His nametag said that he was William G. Brown, an ambassador for America. A second man was behind him, but stayed in the hallway.

"Good evening gentlemen, my name is William Brown. I'm an ambassador for the US." He said.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Robert Cook." Robert said, extending his hand for a handshake, which William quickly shook.

"James Reverend." I said as I shook William's hand next. "So, why would a US ambassador come all the way to Area 51 to talk with us?"

"Well, it's complicated, but it's all about you James." He said as he took a seat at the table. Robert and I also took our seats. "More specifically, your ability to pilot an IS."

"Ahh, let me guess. You're our ambassador to Japan, aren't you?" I asked, getting a general idea of where this was going.

"That is correct. I assume you've been told about why I'm here?" he asked

"Nope. But since it deals with me piloting an IS, it makes sense for the American ambassador for Japan would come to talk to us since they made the IS." I explained.

"Ahh, alright then. Well then shall we simply cut to the chase?" he asked and, when Robert and I both nodded, he continued. "Good. Quite simply, we want you to attend the IS academy in japan as the representative contender for America. Your file says that you can read speak Japanese, and combined with being a male IS pilot, it makes sense for you to head over and study there. Upon graduation, we have a slot for you and Robert on a SG team unless you decide to compete in tournaments."

"I have only one problem with that." I said, getting confused looks form both William and Robert. "I want the real reason for why your sending me to the IS academy."

"But I just told you the reason." William deadpanned.

"And it's a crap reason. You simply want me to get close to the other male IS pilot, don't you." I said bluntly, receiving a rather bad poker face from William. He was about to deny the accusation when there was a knock on the door.

"You're absolutely right son, and you're wrong too." A man said as he walked in. Immediately, Robert and I stood up and saluted.

"Mr. President Sir!" we said as we saluted the president. He quickly returned the salute and told us to be at ease. After sitting down again, I asked "What do you mean by I'm right but I'm wrong sir?"

"While it's true that we want you to get close to the other male IS pilot, it is also true that we are sending you so that you can get an education on operating an IS. To be entirely honest, while we want you to be close to him and learn what you can about him, were more interested in getting you an education so that the US has a much bigger presence in the IS field." The president explained. "After you graduate, we are more than willing to allow you to do as you please, weather that be returning to the SGC, entering tournaments, or even retiring and simply living a normal life. If you do decide to return to the SGC however, we are willing to extend the same invitation to any friends you make while at the academy that you deem worthy. You are also welcome to turn down our offer and return to the SGC and resume your posting as mechanics if you wish."

"Well, if I were to have my own IS, that would probably sway me into going along with your plan." I said. "But regardless, Robert here comes with me. If I have to trust anyone besides myself when it comes to the maintenance of my IS, it would be him."

"Ahh, the bonds of friendship. Rest assured Robert would be going with you. That's why he was brought here with you. As for your own IS, I believe we could provide you with one. Why else would we have brought you both to Area 51?" the president said. William had simply kept his mouth shut since the president had walked in. Standing up, Robert and I were lead out into a hall and started walking to a hangar.

"Hey." Robert said, getting my attention. "Thanks for saying you'd want me as your mechanic. It really means a lot." He said while putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you trying to come on to me?" I said, completely strait faced.

"What? No! No! I meant is as… AWW SCREW YOU!" he said as he noticed the smile slowly growing on my face. The both of us laughed all the way to the hanger we had been walking towards.

"Gentlemen, this is it. Our attempt at creating a 3rd generation IS with technology we have acquired through the Stargate program. The technical specifications are beyond me, but you're both engineers so why don't you have a look for yourself." The president said, bringing us from our laughs. The IS was a marvelous looking machine, this one was currently without the wings on its back. From a quick glance it looked like a knight's armor as there were several spots that contained what looked like chainmail as well as curved plate metal. Despite the appearance of being a knight, the color scheme was… patriotic… to say the least. Adorned in red, white, and blue, it resembled the 'Iron Patriot" from the movie _Iron Man._

"Ok, were defiantly changing the paint on that ride. Uncle Sam himself would be put to shame in that." Robert said flatly as he and I walked closer to the machine for a better look at it.

"I agree. The technicians that built it painted it themselves as a joke. Originally it was going to be called the Patriot and be used by our highest scoring female candidate who would have become our representative contender. However, being the second country to produce a male IS pilot is a much better appearance. Feel free to give it a new name as well." The president said as a pair of technicians came forward and started to talk to him.

"So, what do you think?" I asked Robert in a hushed voice. "You are going to be the chief mechanic after all, so I want your opinion on it."

"Heh, could be worse. Armor looks far too thin but that could just be to allow better mobility. Lots of the gen 3 IS's are large and focus more on strength and firepower than mobility and tactics. Not that we know any to begin with, but still." He said.

"Very true, but I played lots of strategy games as a kid. Even won a couple tournaments. I'd say that I have more than the basics at least." I chipped in.

"Fair enough. Also I have no idea what armaments this thing has or why there's chainmail on the damn thing, but looking at those shoulder holes, I'd say there's a compact cannon in each. No idea what type, given all the tech the SGC has developed."

"We need the specs for this thing. I feel like the armor itself is going to be the key to the whole thing." I said. Robert simply nodded his head and turned around, motioning for one of the mechanics to come over.

"Listen, we need the technical specs of this thing. Could you go print them out for us?" Robert asked the woman.

"We have them on tablets already prepared for you two." She said, gesturing towards a nearby table.

"Appreciated." He said, giving her a smile and a nod before doing a quick jog over to the table. I simply stood there, looking at the armor, still trying to figure out how the hell I ended up being able to pilot one of these machines. Robert started to walk back over with an extra tablet when he noticed me staring at the machine. Knowing what I was thinking next, he ran back over to the table and put on a headset. He then grabbed the IS's Quantum form, a small brown bracelet that looked like an armguard and tossed it to me just as I turned to face him. Catching it easily, I simply smiled at Robert and put it on.

"Input unit name" The bland female voice coming from the IS said.

"Rouge" I said to it while smiling.

"Unit name: Rouge, accepted." The voice said. The President and the technicians were having a little debate and hadn't noticed what was going on. "Please enter the unit for calibrations."

Climbing into the pilots spot, I put my feet and hands into their respective slots. Immediately, the machine started to adjust to my frame, becoming an extension of my body. I stood there as the HUD appeared, giving me a better understanding of how the machine worked immediately. Guessing from the readouts on the unit's energy and shields, it was powered by either one or two Naquadah generators. It had two small thrusters that were extremely powerful, probably compact ion thrusters similar to the ones used by F-302's and the D-304's in production. If that was correct, then this IS would be capable of reaching speeds of over Mach 7-10 depending on how much thrust the miniature versions were.

More importantly, I found the reason why the designers had styled this unit after a knight. Looking at the armaments, the unit was a close combat specialist with several variations of swords. The chainmail would be very helpful in stopping bladed weapons, and was placed in areas that would need it. The plate armor would also help with energy and kinetic ranged weapons as it was well rounded and could dissipate blast from an energy weapon and have the rounds from kinetic weapons simply graze the surface, minimizing damage. The metal itself was a mixture of Titanium, Trinium, and Naquadah, so despite its thin appearance it was probably tough enough to take several tank shells and be fine. Well, the armor would be, I wouldn't unless I made sure to use my weapons to take down the target before it got to that point.

Speaking of weapons, I pulled open the menu to see what sort of weapons this unit used. It came to no surprise that there were several bladed weapons, this was modeled after a knight after all, but there was also a large amount of ranged weapons. The one he wanted to try the most was labeled the one-hundred fifty millimeter cannon. That would be sure to bring down just about anything in a single shot, the only problem was that it would probably be hard to aim. Then there was the dual laser cannons in each shoulder that Robert had noticed. It's a pity that this wasn't going to be a weapons test, but a flight test instead.

The adjustments had finished and the suit finalized its startup sequence, activating the generators and creating a small buzzing noise. Taking notice, the President, William, and the two technicians looked over in shock at me walking around, getting a feel for the IS.

"Christ, I know the reports said he could do it, but I didn't expect to see it in person so soon." William said as the four of them stared in awe.

"I think it's clear we made a great choice in these two." The president said.

"Ready to give that scrap heap a true test run?" Robert shouted, drawing the attention of the four of them and me.

"You bet!" I said and opened a channel to the control tower. "Tower command, this is… crap, what the name of this thing so I can take off?" I asked the technicians. One of them simply passed out and the other looked too amazed for words. "Ahh screw it. Tower, this is the IS Rouge, requesting permission for take-off for a test run."

"Negative IS pilot, you are not authorized to take off. We have no scheduled tests for today." The tower responded.

"He has my authorization to take off." The president said over a radio he had taken from the passed out technician. William was fanning the passed out woman. The President then gave his authentication codes and, after a quick confirmation on the codes from the tower, I was cleared to take off.

"Well, here goes nothing." I said to Robert over a private channel. I started to look through the built in manual on how to fly with this thing, but quickly gave up. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck man." Robert said over the channel before I ignited my thrusters and took off, shooting out the hangar and onto the runway. Now being in an open area, I tried to hover as a simple start, moving towards a waiting area so I wouldn't get in the way of any jets taking off or landing. After nearly falling, I started to get the hang of the way the unit balanced. Despite its appearance at being top heavy due to the large amount of plate metal there, it was actually well balanced which had thrown him off. Now expertly hovering, I increased the thrust and started to gain altitude. Doing more and more tricks, my confidence grew in leaps and bounds.

"Hey James." Robert's voice came in over the channel. "While it's neat to see you doing tricks, let's get back to testing that scrap heap. The unit has built in inertial dampeners so you should have no problem handling quick acceleration and deceleration, as well as high speeds."

"Alright man. But damn if this isn't fun. I really wish you could experience this. Damn IS's only working for girls." I said, giving myself a bit of speed. "Well, maybe with there being two male pilots you can get a unit someday."

"Yeah yeah, less talking, more flying." He said, trying to sound disinterested. He didn't fool me though. I knew he was extremely jealous, and the thought of doing what I was currently doing was killing him. Finally deciding to go all out, I pushed the thrusters to the max, creating a sonic boom while shooting forward at an excess of Mach 9. Doing plenty of twirls and twists, i almost threw up. 'Better not let them know about that...' I thought to myself as i turned around almost instantly, maintaining speed and shooting back towards the base. After a quick dive, I skimmed the ground only a foot above it, leaving a large dust trail that appeared a good quarter mile behind me.

As I sped onto the base, I quickly stuck out my legs and gained a bit of altitude so I would be seen as standing. Wheels popped out of the bottom of my feet and I rolled across the runway, stopping my forward thrust slowly with reverse bursts from my thrusters. It was a very anti-climactic way of stopping, but it worked, and to be honest, I had no desire to fall from the sky only to land on the ground like Iron Man does in the movies. Why do that when you can come in from an angle and take out several additional targets?

Coincidentally, I had ended up stopping right in front of the president, so I guess it wasn't as anti-climactic as it could have been. I walked over to where the unit had been when the test started and shut it down, climbing out of it after that was said and done. I took a few steps back and took in the sight of it again. Scary enough, the paint job was starting to grow on me.

After that day, I was kept at Area 51 for training in operating Rouge and using its weapons. I ended up falling in love with the one fifty cannon, which turned out to be a prototype weapon intended to take out an Al'kesh in a single hit. However, I was also kept there to keep the press from finding out about me until the last possible second, which ended up being an hour before the plane to Japan had landed. The biggest question had been how high my compatibility with the IS I had and what the name of my IS happen to be. Thankfully, I only had to answer the last question, as the first was taken by a technician who said it was classified. The press got a huge kick out of it when I told them the IS was called Rouge though. Don't know why, it's just a name after all.

And that is how I ended up on this plane, heading to a place I hadn't thought I would be going to in a million years, as the representative contender for America with an IS that was upgraded with alien tech.

Who knew what would happen at the academy if this is what my life was before even getting there…

**_LATER… AT THE ACCADEMY_**

"Big place." I muttered as I looked out the window of the car towards the IS academy. The place was huge, but it made sense since there had to be acquit room for IS training.

"That your professional opinion, Sir?" Robert said, mocking me. He was sitting in the seat next to me, still annoyed that I had ended up as an IS pilot and he hadn't. And being promoted hadn't helped either. We were still best of friends, but now he teased me about my rank and status since I was promoted after the impromptu test flight back at Area 51.

"Damn it Robert, are you still upset about me being the second male IS pilot instead of it being you?" I teased, elbowing him in the ribs lightly.

"Never said I was upset." He said, rubbing his side with a small smile.

"Yeah, your right." I said and he looked surprised. "It's been your tone ever since I got promoted, PRIVATE." A sadistic grin grew on my face.

"Well excuse me, SARGENT. I'll try to tone it down for you." He said, returning the elbow to the ribs from earlier.

"If you two are done," the driver said, "we have arrived and you may get out now."

"Thanks mister!" we both said as we climbed out of the car and got our luggage before the vehicle drove away. Most of what we needed had been shipped over beforehand, so this was just last minute stuff. After looking around for what felt like forever, we were startled by a female voice.

"I take it your our new student? The representative contender from America?" She said. How had she even snuck up on us? Where they were standing there was no trees or concrete slabs that someone could hide behind.

"Uh, yeah, names James Reverend. This is my friend and personal mechanic, Robert Winstanly." I said, still trying to get over the initial shock of being snuck up on.

"Pleasure to meet you." Robert said, acting calm as ever. Then again, there was a girl involved, so it figures he would be as calm and collected as possible.

"Same to you two. I'm Chifuyu Orimura, or Ms. Orimura in the class room or during any events and disciplinary actions." She said, both being kind and giving a strict warning.

"Understood, I'll try my best to keep in your good graces." I said. I really didn't want to be on the receiving end of any of her disciplinary lectures.

"Good. Now then, I'll show you to your rooms. Seeing as you're a pilot and you're a mechanic," she said, gesturing to us respectively, "then you will be living in separate areas. The dorms are this way-"

"Hey, is it ok if we find out where Robert is staying first?" I asked, receiving a surprised, if slightly annoyed, look from Ms. Orimura. "It's just that I'd like to know where he is staying since I'm guessing the dorms have room numbers and the staff ones don't."

"Fair enough." She said with a small nod and proceeded to head towards the staff housing area. After a long, and awkwardly quiet, walk, we reached the building where Robert would be staying at. As we started to walk in, I was blocked by an arm coming from Ms. Orimura. "Sorry, but this **is** a staff only building."

"It's alright. I'm just glad to know where the building is." I said and gave a small smile. Ms. Orimura just nodded and lead Robert in. Robert gave a quick wave and yawned, still not use to the time change.

Thankfully, I had already adjusted to the time difference between here and Colorado. It was only a couple hours different, but even a single hour could mess up a sleep schedule. Though, I guess being in the military made it easier, especially when there were alarms going off all the time. No sleep schedule was the same from week to week at the SGC.

I had been waiting for about five minutes and had walked over to a nearby tree to be in the shade when I felt a tug on my sleeve. Turning, I saw a guy, roughly a few years younger than me, standing just a bit too close for comfort. I took a small step back as I turned to face him.

"Hey, so you're the new student?" He asked. Pretty straight forward guy it seemed.

"Yeah, James Reverend. You are?" I asked.

"Ichika Orimura, your room mate." He said, extending his hand. I quickly shook it with a smile.

"Well, it's great to meet the first male IS pilot." I said, grinning like an idiot. "Hope we end up getting along!"

"As long as you're not a girl cross dressing as a guy, were going to get along great!" Ichika said, earning a wide-eyed stair from me. "What? Was it something I said?"

"D-Did you just accuse me of being a cross dressing girl?" I stammered.

"NO, NO!" he shouted, quickly raising his hands in protest. "That's not what I meant! It's just that I have a strange feeling that might end up happening."

"Ohh, alright. Jeez, if girls are going to be that desperate to get close to you then this is either going to be heaven or hell. Not sure which yet as the only girl I've met so far has been your sister."

"Chifuyu? You met her already?" he asked.

"Yeah, she met us as me and my mechanic got out of the car we used to get here. She should be back out here any minute, seeing as she was just showing him where he would be sleeping." I said, gesturing to the staff building.

"You brought your own mechanic? Why not just let the regular staff here work on it?" Ichika asked.

"Political reasons. Plus he's been my best friend for quite some time and there's no one I'd rather trust than him with my IS." I answered.

"So you have a personal IS also. Nice, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. We are the only two male IS pilots in the world. So are you a representative contender, or just going solo like me for now?" He asked.

"So true, and yes, I'm the representative contender for America, though I'm not sure if I really want to be or not. I understand their reasons for wanting me to be one though. ANWYAY, I was working in the military as a mechanic, repairing an IS when I decided it would be fun to get in it and mess around. Didn't expect it to start actually moving. Shortly after that I met the president of the United States and he asked me to be the representative contender for America. Couldn't really say no, since I had been given my own IS, but like I said I might not keep that title." I said sheepishly, slightly embarrassed by the story.

"Wow, I just stumbled into the IS testing room on accident when I found out I could use an IS. Seems like both of use being pilots were just accidents that ended in our favor." He said with a small laugh. "And I'm not a representative contender either, though that's not from a lack of offers."

"I can imagine." I said, also laughing lightly. Turning slightly, I noticed Ms. Orimura and Robert walking over to us. "Hey guys."

"I see you have met your roommate. Good. That saves me the hassle of showing you to your room before having to walk to my office for more paperwork. Ichika, take them to your room and show them around the campus." Ms. Orimura said.

"On it Chifuyu." Ichika said with a smile, until he got hit on the head with a book.

"I told you, it's Ms. Orimura when on campus." She said and started to walk away. Ichika was holding his head while lightly moaning, and Robert was staring at Ms. Orimura as she walked away, leaving me standing there wondering just what type of school I had enrolled in.

**_LATER_**

"Well, that's pretty much the whole school." Ichika said as he and I returned to our room. Robert had ditched us towards the end, saying he needed to get some sleep. "Thankfully they put in some male only bathrooms over the summer. It was a hassle last year with only girl bathrooms."

"Ha, I bet. So, which bed is yours and which is mine?" I asked, picking up my luggage.

"You get to choose since you're the new guy." He said, while I graciously nodded in appreciation.

"In that case, I'll take the far bed. It's been a while since I've been able to wake up from the sun in my eyes." I said.

"Whys that?" he asked.

"My last posting was at a military base inside a mountain. It's easy to lose track of the days in there." I answered, slightly nervous about potentially giving away something that I shouldn't.

"Oh wow. Don't blame you for wanting the window side at all." Ichika said as he flopped down on his bed. I started to unpack a couple things from my luggage. "So what's life like in the military? I've thought about joining, but it always felt like too much of a hassle."

"Well, it is tough. Both Robert and I had a hard time in boot camp. Though that was mainly due to our antics than any actual struggle." I explained. "In the end it depends on what you're going in for. Robert and I wanted to be engineers, so short of basic training, it wasn't bad at all. What would you go into?"

"Air force, more specifically anything involving space. It's always been my dream to go up into space someday. It should be easy, since the IS was designed to do just that, but the ban on military units going into space prevents that." He said. I moved a few boxes and started to put away my clothes, making sure to keep my face away from his. If he saw my face, he would know something was up.

'Why did I have to have the ONE male IS pilot who happened to have a fascination with space?' I thought to myself. 'It's hard not to tell him that his dreams are a lot closer to earth than he thinks, literally. Wait, didn't the president say I could bring back friends for positions on a team at the SGC? Better check on that first before I mention anything.'

"So why did you want to be an engineer?" Ichika asked, bringing me out of my train of thought.

"Oh, I just wanted to be able to build or repair things. I always enjoyed working on things where I could use my hands. Though it got me into trouble when I built a flame thrower out of Legos when I was 10." I said.

"You wha- Ya know what, I don't even want to ask how you managed that." He said, his face being one of pure terror.

"Relax. Technically it wasn't even a flame thrower. More like a plasma thrower. Only got one shot out of it before the whole thing melted." I said, completely oblivious to the look of pure horror on Ichika's face.

"Well, at least you have a skill set to fall back on. I'm more or less useless when it comes to anything." He said.

"Not true." I said flatly.

"How so?" he asked when I didn't elaborate.

"I've met dozens of people who thought the same thing you do. They didn't think they would be amazing in any one field. Turns out that they weren't."

"How is that relevant?"

"Because they weren't amazing in any one field, but they were far more than competent in all of them. What they excelled at was versatility. Being able to fill in when a group member got injured or was sick is extremely helpful. Most people only focus on one particular trait to master, but I think it's better to be simply good in all skills."

"That's surprisingly insightful. Are you sure you're not a girl?"

"Do I have to drop my pants?"

"I'm good. Anyway it's getting late, why don't we turn in. Still have a couple days before classes start so you'll have plenty of time to unpack." Ichika said while yawning.

"Yeah, I just wanted to get a few things out of the way." I said as I changed into my pajamas.

"Well, I guess you really aren't a girl." He said.

"Well, since you were looking, are you gay?" I teased.

"Hell, I might end up being gay after I'm done at this school. I like to expect the worse so that I might be pleasantly surprised." He deadpanned.

"That bad huh?" I said as I climbed into my bed.

"Well, were going to find out soon enough."

"Fuck, just what have I gotten myself into." I asked.

"Probably hell. But who knows, it might be fun." He said, getting a laugh out of me.

"Night Ichika." I said

"Night James." He said.

**_THE NEXT MORNING_**

I slowly opened my eyes as the first rays of sunlight came through the window. Rolling over, I laid on my side and looked out the window, now fully awake. It had been so long since I had been able to watch the sunrise from my own bed, probably back when I was still living at home before basic training.

The sun, now completely visible, was shining brightly. Slowly, I rolled back over and looked at my alarm clock. It was set to go off at 7:30, but it was only 6:00. Turning off my alarm so it wouldn't go off and awaken Ichika, I quietly grabbed some clothing and my bag holding my bathroom utilities; shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, hairbrush, comb, and a razor for shaving. Stepping into the bath room and turning on the lights, I set up my items, excluding the shampoo, in a drawer on the far right side, leaving the far left side to Ichika. Then I undressed, folded my clothes, and stepped into the shower.

The water felt great as it flowed down my body. The power of the showerhead stung a little bit from where the water hit me, but it was pure bliss compared to the showers during basic training, and even on base at the SGC and Area 51. 'A person really has to get use to either quick showers, or get use to cold showers there.' I thought as I started to rinse my hair. After a couple more minutes of pure bliss from the hot water, I turned off the shower and grabbed a towel, not stepping out of the shower to avoid getting water on the floor. After a quick drying, I wrapped the towel around my waist and stepped out, admiring my body in the mirror.

Despite all the crap Robert and I ended up doing during basic, we both ended up with well-toned bodies. Though I suppose it made sense, it was the military after all and our punishments were the stuff of legends, specifically our day zero fifty mile run around the base. Regardless of what happened, I wouldn't have done anything differently looking back, and I certainly didn't mind the abs I got from it.

As I reached for my hair brush and comb, I paused and looked at my hair in the mirror. It still had yet to fully grow back from what it was before the required military haircut. Leaving the brush and comb, I instead grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste and quickly brushed my teeth.

After getting dressed, I walked out of the bathroom and looked at Ichika's bed. He was still sound asleep, so I walked over to one of my boxes and opened it. Pulling out a laptop and headphones, I walked back over to my bed and adjusted my pillows so that I could sit down with my back to the wall, using the pillows as a back cushion. Turning on my laptop, I loaded up a game that I hadn't played in forever called Worlds. It was based off of the TV show Wormhole Extreme, which was just a cover for the SGC and Worlds was a game to further extend that cover. I had actually been playing it before joining the military and finding out that the whole thing was real. It also helped me and Robert get into the SGC, since I had solved several "developer challenges" which were more or less problems the SGC needed a lot of people working on, but didn't have the time to do so.

Despite it being a military cover, the game was actually amazingly good. It had a slow start, since many people were dedicated to the MMO's that they had started out with, but it slowly outgrew those games, absorbing most of their players. The big time games like WOW were still going strong, but they defiantly took a large hit. My character, thankfully, was able to use the name I always used for gaming since I was 14: Bads25. No idea why I chose to go with that name all these times, but I loved it and would use it whenever possible.

What was even better was the IS suits in the game didn't discriminate gender, so guys were free to use the machines in the game. It was a shame that a lot of games did that. Guys wanted to be able to use the IS too damn it! Sadly enough, most of those games simply reflected how reality had been lately. It wasn't that bad really, though there were plenty of extremist groups who pushed for female dominance. Thankfully, most of said groups only protested instead of getting physical.

Taking a small break from being one of the best bounty hunters in the game, I leaned back and though about if the creator of the IS, a woman named Tabane Shinonono, had thought this would be the outcome of her creation. Certainly no one expected the missile crisis that had happened shortly after, classifying all IS as WMD's, but I truly wondered if she had seen this outcome happening. I made sense in a way, she was the creator and only females could operate them, so if she had it wouldn't have been a surprise.

But then there was Ichika and I. We could both operate IS units, though I suspect that, since he was friends with Tabane's sister, 'quick mental note: get better at remembering names' that he somehow got her to give him one that works. Didn't seem likely at all, especially since it didn't account for me. I truly had no clue why I could use an IS.

Putting my thoughts aside, I received a message on my game. Upon opening it, I read: "Dear Bads25, I congratulate you on becoming the second male IS pilot. I look forward to seeing what you have to offer to the world. Sincerely, a friend."

"The fuck is this about? How the hell did they know I was the second male IS pilot?" I asked myself out loud, quickly quieting down when Ichika woke up.

"What's going on?" he asked. "What time is… Why are you up at 7:00 playing a game?"

"…"

"…"

"Reasons." I said.

"Wonderful. Please don't tell me you're going to do this every morning." He said, sounding tired.

"Waking up this early, yes. Playing games, no. Hadn't played in a while so I took a chance. Most mornings I'll be going on a run." I said. "And sorry for waking you up. I just got a really strange message in game."

"What did it say?" he asked, slowly letting his mind catch up with his body.

"It said congratulations on being the second male IS pilot. Don't know how the hell anyone would know that on this game." I said, Ichika perking up at the thought of someone in a game identifying me as the second male IS pilot.

"That is strange. Strange enough that I don't hold any grudges for you waking me up from your yell of shock." He said with a small smile.

"Didn't yell." I growled. "I simply raised my voice from the surprise."

"Same thing. Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it. Since were both up, I'm going get ready then let's go get breakfast." He said, getting up and walking to the bathroom with his stuff.

"Sounds good." I said as my stomach growled, loudly. We both had a good laugh at that. Still, I was confused at the message. Why had they known I was an IS pilot, and why did they say they were a friend? Screw it. I'm too hungry for this crap. I'll just deal with it later…

**ALRIGHT THAT'S IT FOR CHAPTER ONE! I originally intended for this to be two separate chapters, but it just felt short that way. Also, who could the mysterious "friend" that sent the letter be? What will happen on his first day of school? WILL HE HAVE A HARREM?**

**James: OH HELL NO! DON'T YOU GO AND PULL THAT ON ME!**

**Shut it James! You signed the contract! I can do what I want!**

**James: AT LEAST HAVE SOME MERCY ON ME!**

**Where's the fun in that though? Hehe, SEE YOU NEXT TIME!**


	2. Chapter 2

**WHATS UP EVERYONE! Hope your all doing great and enjoying the story!**

**James: More than I probably will.**

**SHUT IT JAMES! Anyway, it's time for school! In more ways than one. Collage will be starting soon and my other story is coming along great, so I wanted to get this to chapter two as quickly as possible, but even I'm surprised that I got it done this quick.**

**James: Yeah… it's almost like you have no life.**

**Shut UP JAMES**

**James: Only if you don't give me a harem**

**Fine**

**James: REALLY?**

**FUCK NO! NOW LETS GO!**

**Chapter 2**

**First day of class**

I woke up with the first rays of sun hitting my face like I had been the past few days. I really enjoyed waking up with the sun again, it was a lot better than waking up under a mountain. The few months I had spent at the SGC were a lot of fun, and very crazy, but I just couldn't sleep well there. Getting up, I quickly turned off my alarm. I really don't know why I even kept the damn thing on anymore, I hadn't used it once.

After a quick shower, I looked at the now empty extra bed in my room. For some reason, Ichika had been given a different room, probably just some mistake with the room arrangements. It didn't make sense for the only two guys to end up in different rooms. 'All well, it would probably be resolved soon.' I thought as I walked out the door and headed towards the cafeteria. In the meantime, I wasn't looking forward to whoever would end up as my new roommate, though I hadn't been told if I would even have a new roommate at all. I certainly wouldn't mind that, it would let me keep in more regular contact with my "handler" at the Pentagon.

Really all I did with him was just inform him of what had happened that day, though they were really interested in knowing that Ms. Orimura was a teacher at the academy. Apparently she had dropped off the radar for some time and they were glad to know she was here. Other than that, I was considering to just stop contacting them unless something interesting actually happened.

I walked into the cafeteria and was surprised at the lack of people. I know I get up early, but today was the first day of class, why was everyone not getting up early? Then again, there were still students who weren't here yet and some who wouldn't be here until tomorrow, missing the whole first day.

"Not the best way to start the school year." I said to myself as I went through the food line. "This, however, is a great way. So glad that this place serves foods from every country." I grabbed some buttermilk waffles with sides of bacon, sausage links, and hash browns. After grabbing a couple of syrup packets I grabbed my tray of food, grabbed a glass of orange juice, and found an empty seat near the windows. It had quickly become his favorite seat and since the cafeteria was quiet, with the exception of a few early birds like myself, I was uncontested to keep my table. After starting to eat, a girl happened to walk over to my table.

"Excuse me," she said, her voice sounding like she was from somewhere around Western Europe, "Do you mind if I have a seat here? The view of the ocean is quite lovely." After raising my hand and swallowing the bite I was halfway through, I responded.

"Sorry about that. Anyway sure, my name is James. James Reverend." I said, gesturing for her to take a seat. She sat down, taking a seat close to me, but not close enough to seem she was trying to flirt with me. Thank goodness too, because I didn't think I could handle that so soon. A bunch of hormonal teenagers coming after me is certainly not going to be fun.

"A pleasure to meet you. Cecilia Alcott, if you haven't heard already." She said, slightly arrogantly. "I'm the Representative candidate for the United Kingdom. To be honest I'm more than a little surprised you didn't invite me over to sit with you though."

'Is this girl for real?' I thought to myself before saying "Sorry, I've only really been paying attention to things like this for the past week since I found out I could pilot an IS."

"Hmm, that is an acceptable excuse, though it certainly won't last for long though." She said, taking a sip of her drink.

"Right… so why are you up this early? Wanted to beat the inevitable food line rush?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Heavens no, I certainly didn't intend to be up this early. My roommate set her alarm to go off far earlier that it should have. What about you? Why are you up at this ungodly hour?" she ranted.

"Oh, well I actually wanted to get up this early." I said, receiving a shocked face from Cecilia. "I came here from the military, but I also always got up whenever the sun comes up, even when it's cloudy. Anyway I'm just use to it and it gives me plenty of time to wake up so I'm not dreary during the day. Plus the non-existent food line is a big plus."

"That explains a lot, and is actually quite a good idea. I'm surprised a commoner like you was able to come up with it." She said, taking a bite of her food, where as I was about to finish already, eager to get away from the arrogant girl.

"Well, it's the common people that make the world go round and come up with some of the best ideas and inventions. The elite simply capitalize on a good situation, and I certainly can't blame them for that." I said, with a sigh as I finished my food. Damn this girl was getting on my nerves. "Well, I'm going to go find my class now. Despite getting here early, I have no clue where my classes are…"

"Don't you know that the classes here are all in the same room?" she said, raising her head in arrogance. "It's the teachers that change classrooms, and even then it's simply going to be involving information about the IS, so there's no need to change classrooms unless it involves operating an IS."

"Yeah yeah," I said, not really listening to her anymore as I walked off with my tray, "Well, I'll see you later. Hope your first day is a good one."

"Humph!" was all I heard coming from her as I walked away. Good lord was she a stuck up, arrogant girl. Back when I was living with Uncle Fisher, we wouldn't have given someone like her the respect they deserved… the same that they gave us, none. Uncle Fisher was especially blunt about respect. Thinking about him brought a twang of sadness as I started walking towards the classrooms. He had taken me in when my parents died the same day I was being brought home. Gunned down during the car ride I had been told, though I never learned why.

Uncle had also taught me a lot of helpful talents when I said I wanted to go into the military. He was slightly upset when I said I wanted to join in general, as he apparently had bad experiences with the military, but when I said I wanted to be an engineer, he quieted down and simply started to teach me. It really helped that I talked to him about it when I was 10 years old, because it let him drill a lot of things into my head well before I ended up joining the military.

Things like sensing the first flying towards the back of my head! A quick duck, pivot, and leg sweep later, the culprit was laying on the ground moaning. I already knew who it was, as I had had this sort of thing happen to me for quite some time.

"Robert, when are you going to learn not to do that?" I sighed. There were some people around and all of them were staring now.

"Ahh its fine, I'm just making sure your amazing skills aren't dying out from leaving the military." He said, getting up slowly, still clearly in pain. Apparently I **WAS** losing my touch, as he was normally down for a good five minutes. Eh, he could just be getting used to it. I'll have to drop him harder next time.

"Bro, I've told you. I learned that from my uncle back when I was 10. It's one of the first things I learned from him." Is said, not bothering to help him up as he knew he deserved it. "Anyway, what are you doing here? You don't have to take classes."

"Yeah, but I figured I should. There's still a whole lot I don't understand about the IS and how it works." He said, now walking with me as we headed towards my classroom. "Besides, I asked Ms. Orimura if it would be ok if I just sat in for some discussions and she said it would be fine."

"Don't tell me your going after her." I deadpanned. Leave it to Robert to go after the strongest IS pilot here. He was going to get himself killed one day I swear.

"Heh, I might be. Depends on how most of the class reacts to you and the kid. Ichika, right?" He said, grinning like an idiot.

"Please don't start that. Right now, me and him both don't want anything to do with hormonal teenage girls. We prefer staying sane and alive for now." I said as we walked into the classroom. Surprisingly, there were a couple people already here, and Ichika was one of them. "Hey man, you find out your new roommate yet?" I asked when we walked in.

"No. Not yet." He sighed. I let out a small chuckle and he glared at me slightly. Robert just started saying how he was jealous that Ichika got to sleep in the same room as a girl. After a small discussion that was cut short by the bell, I found my seat; right by the window in the back. Best seat ever. Poor Ichika ended up at the very front of the classroom, right in front of the teacher's desk at the center.

"All eyes on you Ichika. Don't disappoint." I mumbled a little too loud, as he turned and glared at me again. Ahh, if this was going to be how every day was, I think I can handle it. But ill reserve judgment for after the day is done.

"Alright everyone, would you please take your seats?" a soft female voice said as a light green haired woman with glasses walked in. Immediately I knew where Robert would be looking, as the woman had a rather… noticeable chest. "My name is Maya Yamada, and I'm going to be your homeroom teacher as well as your instructor for general IS information! Now, how about we… W-we get started with self-introductions." She stammered, noticing not one, but three males in the classroom.

'This should be interesting.' I thought to myself as the class started introducing themselves one at a time. Most of the girls were largely unnoticeable in my opinion, but I knew Robert would be interested in more than a few of them. Eventually, they got to the O's, and Ichika was up. 'AAAAAnd he didn't hear her. Bad way to make a first impression.'

"Ichika Orimura!" she somewhat yelled, startling him.

"P-P-PRESENT!" Ichika yelled, receiving a few laughs from several girls.

"I-I'm sorry. We are doing self-introductions, and were already to the O's. Could you introduce yourself?" the teacher said. I already didn't like this teacher. She was impossibly submissive and yet easily angered when Ichika didn't realize he was up. Ichika stood up, shaking slightly, and gave his introduction.

"My name is Ichika Orimura!" He said, getting everyone's attention. Don't leave it there buddy, say something else! "That's all!" Aaand down goes half the girls in the classroom, teacher included. "What, was it that ba-OUCH!" he said just before he was it in the head with a book, being held by his older sister. Wait… what is she doing here?

"Ms. Orimura! Your back! I assume that means the meeting is already over?" the teacher, Maya, said with glee. Already it was noticeable that Ms. Orimura was going to be flooded with fangirls.

"Yes. Thank you Maya for handling my class while I was gone." She said kindly to the assistant. "Alright everyone, listen up! My name Chifuyu Orimura, but you are never to call me that! You shall address me as Ms. Orimura. Is that clear?" a resounding 'Yes mam' was heard through the room. "Good. Now then I believe we were just finishing up my brothers rather poor introduction. Moving on, I see we don't have anyone until the R's. James! You're up!"

"Right." I said as I stood up, drawing the attention of everyone in the class. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is James Reverend, but please just call me James. I'm from America and am currently their representative contender, though I may or may not chose to stop being one. Regardless of my choice, I hope we all have a great three years together and can get along." There was a small applaud, followed by a small yell.

"YOU'RE A REPRESENTATIVE CONTENDER!?" Cecilia yelled, slamming her hands on her desk as she stood up. "WHY DID YOU NOT MENTION THIS EARLIER?"

"Must have slipped my mind while you were being a stuck up bitc-" I said as I dodged a book that was thrown at me with my eyes closed. "My bad, a stuck up, arrogant little girl. My apologies for the rude language." I said to Ms. Orimura, who had thrown the book and looked upset that it hadn't hit its target.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Cecilia screamed. "I AM ONE OF THE ELITE! THE ONLY ONE WHO MANAGED TO DEFEAT AN INSTRUCTOR DURING THE ENTRANCE EXAMS!"

"I beat the instructor too." Ichika calmly said. Did he even realize he was probably making the situation worse? Wait, he beat the instructor too?

"No way, I did too man! How did you do it?" I asked.

"Well, the instructor just charged me, so I dodged. They hit the wall and I was declared the winner."

"Ha! I actually had to fight for mine! Ended up wit-"

"WILL YOU TWO STOP IGNORING ME!" Cecilia yelled again.

"ALL OF YOU QUIET DOWN!" Ms. Orimura shouted, silencing everyone. I could have sworn that she had mumbled something about always getting the crazies in her class. "Now, save your petty squabbling for later. Let's finish introductions and then I have someone to introduce to you all." The introductions finished up, with everyone wondering why Robert hadn't said anything. Even Maya looked concerned at why there was a third male here.

"Um, teacher?" some girl asked. "Who is that in the back corner?" she pointed to Robert, who was in the opposite corner to me.

"That's what I was just getting too. Everyone, this is Robert Winstanly. He is a IS mechanic and wanted to sit in on class to learn more about the IS and how it works. At times, he will be an assistant much like Maya, but he cannot pilot an IS. Please regard him as a fellow student unless told that he is going to be an instructor." Ms. Orimura said. "Now, Robert, would you like to introduce yourself?"

"Certainly." He said and stood up. "Like the lovely lady said," Ms. Orimura suddenly had a large blush on her face that she desperately fought to hide, "my name is Robert Winstanly. It is a pleasure to meet you all. If you ever have any questions about homework or classwork, please don't hesitate to ask for help. We're all here to learn and I'll do my best to help you all."

"T-Thank you. You may sit down." Ms. Orimura said... wait, did she just STUDEER? "Moving on, we are going to nominate a class representative for the upcoming tournament. Other than fighting in the tournament, the representative will also participate in the student counsel as our class's representative. Basically they are like the class leader. I will now take nominations for candidates."

"I nominate Ichika!" a couple of girls said. Hehe sucker. There's no way I'm taking that position.

"I nominate James!" Robert said and I glared at him. "Id nominate myself, but I can't pilot an IS."

"Well then, it looks like we're going to have to have a duel between you two. I belie-" Ms. Orimura started to say.

"I OBJECT! Having a male be our class leader is a preposterous idea! I nominate myself! Only the Elite or representative contenders should hold positions of power!" Cecilia objected.

"Well, I'm a representative contender, so I could do it." I said, countering Cecilia's objection.

"I refuse!" she simply stated.

"Well, then it looks like you three will have to fight it out. Ichika vs Cecilia, the loser faces James for the fight to either a rematch or a new fight against the winner. The final round will determine the class representative." Ms. Orimura said. "The training grounds are open on Monday, so we shall hold our contest then!"

The rest of the day went pretty quietly. Ichika disappeared for a bit with some girl who looked really familiar, but I couldn't remember who it was. I beat down Robert for nominating me for a position I didn't want. Then it was lunch time. Robert, Ichika, the girl from earlier, and I all went to the cafeteria and got our food. I chose to get two hot dogs with everything on them and a side of fries. Robert got more or less the same thing, and Ichika and the girl got… I don't really know what they got, and I wasn't about to ask.

"So, who are you again?" Robert asked the girl as we all sat down. "I know you were in class with us, but I can't recall your name."

"My name is Houki Shinonono. Pleased to meet you." She said with a slight bow. "Since you two are both American, its ok for you to simply call me Houki."

"Good. I'm horrible with the whole –san, -chan, -kun stuff. It's so much simpler to just say the person's name."

"You do know those translate into things like dear and what not, right?" I asked Robert.

"THEY DO? CRAP I NEED TO STUDY UP ON THIS STUFF!" he said, pulling out his tablet and started searching the web for the proper situations to say those things. Ichika, Houki, and I all just laughed at him. I noticed that Houki was seemingly happy to have a distraction.

"Something wrong Houki?" I asked.

"N-No. Nothing's wrong." She said, taking a quick glance at Ichika, who remained oblivious as he ate. I immediately understood and gave her a sympathetic nod. She smiled lightly and nodded back.

"So how do you two know each other?" Robert suddenly asked, looking up from his tablet.

"Since we were kids." Ichika said. "I attended a Kendo dojo that her family owned and that's how we met. After the reveal of the IS however, she had to move. It's been, what, six years now since we've see each other?"

"Mmhm." She managed to get out, having had some food in her mouth at the time and being surprised at Ichika's sudden question. After swallowing, she gave a proper response. "Yeah. Six years. I didn't really enjoy the reason for moving though."

"Oh yeah! Your Tabane's younger sister, aren't you!" Robert said.

"Yes, yes I am." She said in a slightly upset voice.

"I take it that you and her are on bad terms, and that the reason you moved was the reveal of the IS?" I asked. She simply nodded. "If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to. I can tell it's a hard topic for you."

"Yeah, it's a hard topic." She said, taking another glance at Ichika, who happened to be deep in thought. "How about we talk about your guys fight coming up?"

"Were going to die." Ichika and I said, completely in sync.

"Come on man, I've seen you fly the Rouge. You're going to be fine!" Robert said to me, trying to cheer me up.

"Yeah, but the only combat experience with the rouge was during the entrance exam." I countered. "And that's not much to go on. I am so screwed."

"At least you have flight experience." Ichika said. "I haven't even gotten my IS yet. It's going to end up getting here the day of the fight."

"Ohhh, good luck there man. Well, maybe we can spar a couple nights. That way we both get a bit more experience piloting IS's." I asked.

"Sure! Just one condition." Ichika said, getting Houki and Roberts's attention as well.

"Umm, what?" I asked.

"Tell us how your entrance exam went! You said you also defeated an instructor!" Ichika exclaimed.

"Yeah, I would also like to hear this, since that girl cut you off." Houki said.

"Alright, alright, let me remember…" I said.

**_THE DAY OF THE ENTERANCE EXAM_**

"Are you ready?" the instructor said, sounding very eager to fight me.

"As ready as I can be." I said calmly. The fight was to be a first blow wins sort of fight, but we both agreed that wouldn't be fun for either of us, so the instructor ended up moving us to a larger room for a full fight.

"Then I'll let you go first, newbie." She taunted.

"Nope. Lady's first." I countered, getting her flustered.

"You're going to regret that." She growled as she shot forward, materializing a katana like weapon and taking a swing. I raised my hand and a broadsword like blade appeared just in time to block her attack. Sparks flew as our blades impacted each other's. I pushed my sword harder, sending her flying back, crashing through a barrier and onto the ground. I quickly despawned my sword and took out a P-90 like weapon and sprayed the area around her as I advanced, keeping her behind cover. A few shots got in and dropped her shields a bit.

"Looks like the first blow goes to me!" I said, pausing to reload.

"Don't get cocky newbie!" she said as she rose up with an energy rifle pointed at me. "That's what will cost you the win!"

"SHIT!" I said as I quickly dove behind cover, grateful the Rouge didn't have its wings right now so the shields wouldn't get hit by the energy blasts that almost hit me. "IS THAT AN ENERGY SNIPER?!" I shouted.

"Take a look and find out!" she said, still firing and keeping me pinned. The damn energy rifle wouldn't run out of ammo, so she kept firing and walked towards me, using my own strategy against me. I raised my P-90 up and over the barrier and let lose a torrent of bullets, causing her to duck behind cover again. I needed the advantage, as that rifle would do more damage that my P-90 and had better accuracy and range. Immediately forming a plan in my head, I spawned a pistol and quickly emptied the clip, shooting the lights that were on my side of the room.

"What are you doing?" she asked as I reloaded, preparing to shoot more lights, but on her side this time.

"It's called strategy! Look it up!" I said as I quick popped over and shot some of her lights, but left enough of them so that I could still see her. I despawned the pistol and replaced it with a small, dagger like blade and started to creep in the shadows. I was so glad that I had that ridiculous paint job redone, as my new colors were very effective at blending in with the shadows. Instead of that ridiculous red, white, and blue color scheme, the Rouge was now painted a matte black with a dark blue tint to it. Not dark enough that it meshed with the black too much, but not bright enough to be easily seen either.

"Where did you go!" the instructor said, moving to the center of the lighting remaining in the room, exactly where I wanted her to go. "Show yourself!"

"Alright then!" I shouted as I burst from the shadows, firing the P-90 and scoring plenty of hits on her shield. She turned and fired her rifle, not panicing like I expected her to and instead scored several, high damaging hits to my shields. Thankfully, she was very surprised when the dagger found its way into her shilds and rapidly started to drain them.

"HOW DO YOU HAVE A SHIELD PIERCE WEAPON?" She yelled as she continued to fire point blank. The fight was going to be extremely close, so I quick reloaded and opened fire point blank with my P-90, giving me just enough to win with 100 shield points remaining. Considering I had started out with 1000, I was embarrassed but happy at the same time. The instructor simply smiled at being beaten and passed me with flying colors.

**_PRESENT_**

"You have a shield pierce weapon? How didn't I see that?" Robert said as he opened the Rouge's weapon inventory and started checking for the dagger.

"Yeah…" I said, scratching the back of my head, "what's shield pierce?" Everyone's heads hit the table in unison. "I take it I should know this…"

"Shield pierce is the ability to rapidly drain an opponent's shields at the cost of your own energy!" Houki said. "The only IS that has ever had it was Ichika's sisters back when she was fighting in tournaments! How do you have a Shield Pierce weapon?"

"Hell if I know! I was given the IS by the US military. It's a working prototype so I'm guessing they figured out shield pierce technology?"

"No." Robert said suddenly. "Looking here, you were never given any small blade weapons. How you got that weapon is beyond me, but it's in your inventory now. The date says it was received the day of your entrance exam."

"Great, first it was a strange message on my game, now its mysterious weapons installing themselves onto my IS. Just great." I sighed as the bell rang. "Well, better get back to class." We all got up and took care of our trays, then walked back to class. The rest of the classes were incredibly uneventful and boring.

After classes, Robert and I went for a run since I happened to forgot to do mine this morning. It felt good to get out of class, and we happened to have a couple girls join us, including Ms. Orimura. It quickly became a competition on who could be running the longest and we drew quite a crowed. After an hour, and about 10 laps around the track (5 miles), it was down to just Robert, Me, and Ms. Orimura. All three of us showed no signs of slowing down.

"I'm surprised you two have lasted this long." Ms. Orimura said. "It's rare to find people that can actually keep up with me."

"This in nothing!" Robert said proudly. "Day one basic training, James and I ended up having to do a 50 mile run for making fun of our CO."

"50 miles?!" Ms. Orimura exclaimed. "That's ridiculous! What did you say to deserve that?"

"Ha, It was just as we had walked into the base. Me and Robert quickly befriended each other and started talking shit about all of the instructors we saw. One of them heard us and started to yell at us, calling us the worst soldiers he had ever seen and a whole range of creative insults." I started to say.

"So naturally, we decided to defend ourselves, seeing as we were just having good natured fun. You want to tell her what we said to him or shall I?"

"You said it last time, so it's my turn. We looked at the drill instructor and said 'listen here you shrimp-dicked fuck-nugget. You can take your opinion of us and shove it up where the sun don't shine!'" I said, hardly holding back a torrent of laughter.

"Then I said to him, 'Sweat jolly rancher, I bet his mom WISHES he swallowed him!'" Robert added. Ms. Orimura immediately stopped running and dropped to the ground, almost dying of laughter. Robert and I quickly joined her, laughing at our own story and at Ms. Orimura's almost constant snorting as she laughed. She kept saying how she was going to kill us when we all stopped laughing, but she snorted again and we only laughed harder. It look us a good ten to fifteen minutes to finally calm down and stop laughing. After the sudden laughing fit, we all agreed that we would finish our little competition on a later date and went our separate ways, since we were all sweaty and sore from laughing.

After finally making it back to my room and showering, there came loud knocks on the door and frantic cries for help. I got up and opened the door, only for Ichika to quickly run in and beg for me to shut the door quickly.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked, shutting the door and locking it for safety.

"It's Houki!" He said. Well, this is going to be good. "She ended up as my roommate."

"Ok… I don't see the problem since you two are childhood friends." I said, thinking I actually did understand what was going on.

"Well, I walked in and heard a voice from the bathroom call out. I panicked and didn't say anything. Then the person steps out and it's Houki! Wearing only a towel! I panicked, she got angry and grabbed her Shinai and charged me! I ducked and ran to her bag where she had another and tried to defend myself but it ended up having her bra on the end of it!" He explained. Damn he had bad luck when it came to girls apparently. "So she got more upset and started to attack me so I ran out and came here!"

"Well, I don't think she followed you. I'll talk to her tomorrow and say it was all just an accident and that it wasn't your fault that you got roomed with her. Just stay here for the night. You should be fine." I said, feeling sorry for both Ichika for having such bad luck, and for Houki for having to put up with Ichika's denseness.

"Thanks man. I owe you." He said as he walked to the bathroom. "Im going to take a shower before bed, if that's ok."

"Go for it. I wasn't planning on going to bed yet anyway. Still awake from the run that me, Robert, and your sister did."

"You ran with my sister? Man I feel bad for you!" he said through the bathroom door. "The way she can just keep running is unhuman if you ask me."

"Ha! That's nothing!" I said, logging on to Worlds, the MMORPG game I had played before. "When Robert and I told her how we ended up running 50 miles on our first day of basic, she toppled over and almost died of laugher." All of a sudden the bathroom door flew open and Ichika's head was popping out.

"YOU MADE MY SISTER LAUGH?" He questioned.

"Yeah. It felt pretty easy too. Just told her how we insulted our CO on the first day. Ended up saying she had never heard of more creative insults in her life. By the way, she snorts when she laughs, which only made us laugh harder." I said nonchalantly. Ichika's jaw was damn near hitting the floor. "What, you act like she never laughs or has fun."

"SHE DOESN'T!" He exclaimed. "Or, I don't think she does! Ever since the day I got kidnapped a couple years ago and made her lose the tournament, she dropped off the radar except for holidays. When she was home she was what you saw in class. Authorative and aggressive."

"Well, me and Robert have plenty of stories like the one we told her, so you might want to get use to the idea of your sister laughing like an idiot." I said with a grin. Ichika just shook his head and went back to taking a shower. As I played my game, I couldn't help but feel bad for Chifuyu, no, it's Ms. Orimura, for never being able to laugh or have fun. I kept thinking about this when all of a sudden I got message. Ever since the last message I got from my "friend" I had been checking every single one and ran an IP address search on the player that had sent the message. The results had been non-existent for my "friends" message. When I opened my message box, there was yet again a message from the player.

"Dear James," I read out loud. "I see you have discovered that the dagger that you used during the entrance exam was not a normal dagger, and not in your weapon load out to begin with. I am slightly surprised it has taken you this long to discover that. Should you require any additional hardware, please let me know. I'm only here to help! Sincerely, your Friend… well fuck me I won't get anywhere with a search on this player." I put my hands to my head and tried to think. Who the hell would know me and how would they know that Robert had looked up the Rouge's original loadout? And why did they care? I should report this to my "handler" at the pentagon, but I had started to greatly dislike the man. I decided id send a message of my own.

"Dear 'Friend'," it read. "While I thank you for the assistance with providing me the shield pierce dagger, I am weary of trusting you when you won't share your own identity. I would greatly like to know who it is that I am working with, as this has been bothering me since you sent your first message to me. I would appreciate anything you would tell me. Sincerely, James Reverend." A quick click on send and it was on its wa-DING-. Already? I opened the message and read it outloud again.

"Dear James, while I cannot reveal my identity at this time, do know that I have no intention of harming you in any way. You and Ichika are of great curiosity to me, but you more so, since you lie outside of my predictions. As I stated before, should you require anything from me, I will happily provide it for you. Sincerely, a friend."

'Well, I'm not solving this mystery any time soon.' I thought to myself. 'It's probably safe to assume that any technology I use is bugged. And what did they mean by me AND Ichika? I know we were the only two male IS pilots, but why drag him into this? And why am I more of a curiosity?'

Deciding to give up on the mystery for the night, I quickly wrote the person saying goodnight. I didn't receve a message back so I simply logged off and turned off the computer. As I walked over to my bed, my phone, which had been ignored since I arrived here with the exception of checking for messages from Uncle Fisher, vibrated. I quick checked it and for some reason wasn't as surprised as I should have been. On the screen it read two words from an unknown number.

"Goodnight James."

**WELL THERE WE GO! CHAPTER TWO EVERYONE!**

**James: Why did you give me a stalker… and who is it?**

**Because James, that's the fun of it all. And I won't tell you. Anyway, I realize that Chifuyu's charac-**

**James: It's Ms. Orimura.**

**BITCH IM THE AUTHOR! SILENCE OR ILL STICK YOU IN A PIT OF FANGIRLS!**

**James: ill be good…**

**Anyway… I realize her character is not what it normally is, but that's because I think everyone does the typical older sister that's from the anime, and I wanted to do something else. Plus I think it's nice that she gets to have fun also. Now, next chapter I'm going to be introducing a new character, someone you won't be expecting at all. Or maybe you will. I'm not sure. Regardless, I want to clarify that they will be on team James, not team Ichika, and that Houki is on team Ichika… obviously.**

**James: oh god, now its teams?**

**TO THE FANGIRL PIT WITH YOU!**

**James: OH GOD NOOOOOO**

**Have a good one! And as always, please leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**ALREADY ON CHAPTER THREE! Work has been really slow and I hoped I could quick pump out a third chapter. Aren't you all so lucky?**

**James: yeah, real lucky…**

**Oh, James, how was the fangirl pit?**

**James: ILL SHUT UP PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME GO BACK THERE**

**Good! Now then, someone managed to guess the name of the mysterious message sender but that doesn't mean I'm going to quick pump out their identity. I have a great plan for that, but the time isn't now, this is a build up to it. Though it means trouble for james…**

**James: I SAID ID BE GOOD!**

**I know, but I had originally planned this all along. Now, LETS GET TO CHAPTER THREE! (Quick note, the part about gym is only relevant to the world that they are living in. I have no idea what Japan's, or any other countries for that matter, gym classes are like. Just so were clear.) **

**Chapter 3**

**TIME TO TRAIN!**

"Why are we up this early?" Ichika asked as we started our run. "The sun isn't even up yet!"

"Would you rather do this while the sun is out and it's much hotter?" I asked. "Because I have no problems with that!"

"Fine, I won't question it." Ichika sighed in defeat. "But why are we running? This isn't what I had in mind when you told me we were going to be training for our battles over being the class rep."

"Its stamina training you twit." I said as we rounded the first corner. "The longer your body can run, the longer you can last in a fight before getting tired. Robert and I have that in spades, and so does your sister."

"Aye, that she does." Robert said, running alongside us.

"Shut up." Chifuyu said, hitting Robert with a book out of nowhere. "I'm only here to finish our little challenge from yesterday."

"You mean the one you lost when you almost died laughing?" Robert teased, making a snorting sound that was remarkably similar to how Chifuyu had sounded.

"I-I didn't lose! We never finished!" She said in defense, hitting Robert again and making him stumble and fall. "Ha! Now it seems you are the one who los-"

"NOPE!" Robert said, quickly rolling and popping back up without missing a beat. "You're going to have to try a lot better than that!"

"ANYWAY!" I said, getting Ichika's attention again. "Just run as long as you can. When you think you're done, tell me."

"Alright." He said, quieting down as he focused on running and not wasting his breath.

"You too Houki! When you think you're done, tell me!" I said to the girl. She was, big surprise, running alongside Ichika. We were all in our pilots outfits with the exception of Robert and Chifuyu, who were in their own training outfits. Though I noticed he kept stumbling when he looked over at Chifuyu and would occasionally fall behind her. I made a mental note to either get the two of them together, or to get out of the way when she decided to finally kill him.

I increased my pace so that I would be in the lead then slowed back down. This was going to be a long ass run and I wanted to set a good example. Thankfully that was another thing that Uncle Fisher had taught me: a good leader leads by example, not by giving fancy speeches inside the base. I had taken Ichika under my wing, so I was going to be right alongside him the whole way.

The sun started to rise on our 5th lap. Ichika and Houki were panting, but refused to stop. Robert kept stumbling and Chifuyu finally decided to start hitting him every time he looked at her. Eventually he got the message, though he still snuck a few peeks at her. Now that it was brighter, I noticed that she had a bit of a red hue to her cheeks.

"I'm done!" Houki said, slowing down, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she panted.

"One more lap! You can do it!" I encouraged her, and she picked back up the pace. At the end of the next lap she started to slow down again. "One more lap!" I called out again, and again she caught back up. The next lap, the same thing happened, but Ichika also said he was done.

"Let's keep running!" I cheered to them. Ichika started running but Houki only slowed back down, seemingly done. I turned around and ran back to her. "Come on Houki, let's get another lap in."

"No, I can't run anymore." She panted.

"You can do one more lap." I said

"No, I really can't." Her breathing was quite rapid.

"Trust me, you can. Unless your legs actually give out on you, you're capable of running still. Now come on." I said, running off. Houki begrudgingly got back up, but had a much slower pace. I matched her pace and ran beside her. "What got you back up?"

"You." She growled, anger clearly all over her face.

"Nope. I just told you what to do. You didn't have to do anything." I said, getting a confused look from her. "You got yourself back up and running, so what got you back up?"

"You apparently have high expectations of me." She growled again.

"Again, no. Let me change questions. Why do you think I want you to keep running?" I asked

"To see me pass out on the floor." She muttered.

"While it would be funny, no. It's because the only thing limiting you is your mind."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm saying that your mind is the only thing stopping you. Your body will keep going until it can't and it will drop, but you mind is stopping you long before you get there." I said. "My uncle taught me that, but I never got a chance to really try it until I had to run 50 miles without a break. Same pace we have been going too."

"How did you manage that?" she asked, her breathing calming down some.

"I just kept running, despite how much I wanted to stop. I refused to stop unless my body actually gave out. Just after I finished, I ended up collapsing. My CO simply gave me a nod and let me rest for the day. Same with Robert, though I had to give him the same speech I'm giving you, and will probably give to Ichika when he gets to this point."

"But that's the military!" she complained.

"So? It was day one. I didn't know any fancy breathing techniques, didn't get any rests, and didn't have any training other than the knowledge that I could run till my body gave out." I said. "And ya know what, I only got better from there. I reached my body's true limit, and pushed past it, making me able to go just that much farther. So what are you going to do? Keep running until you drop? Or will you stop before that?"

"I'm not sure." She answered, stepping up her pace. "But I'm going to try."

"Good." Was all I said. Three laps later I ended up getting Ichika going, but only had to keep saying one more lap. Eventually he got the idea in his head and kept running. Robert and Chifuyu had kept the same pace, occasionally trading insults or blows, but Chifuyu seemed to be opening up more. Maybe it was because she finally had people who were challenging her and holding their own. After the 20th lap, both Houki and Ichika collapsed on the ground. I stopped running, telling Robert and Chifuyu to keep running and that I would be back after I brought both of them to their rooms.

Activating only Rouge's arms, I picked up the two of them carefully and walked back to the dorms. Setting down Ichika, I opened the door and laid Houki down on her bed (It being the only one that had been slept in) and then got Ichika and laid him on the other bed. After quickly flying back to where we were running, I dropped down and matched Robert and Chifuyu's paces perfectly.

"They going to be alright?" Robert asked.

"You should know that better than anyone dude. We both dropped after our run and were out for the rest of the day, and they only got 10 miles in." I said.

"You two really ran 50 miles?" Chifuyu asked.

"You don't believe us, do you?" I asked.

"Im starting to, Robert and I are on mile 25." She said.

"Damn, I took that long?" I muttered. "All well, I'll just keep going after you two stop. Also, please excuse those two from class today. They need the rest."

"Already planned on it." She said, throwing a punch at Robert who had been staring at her again. "WILL YOU KNOCK THAT OFF? IM A TEACHER!"

"Sorry, just can't help myself." Robert said, dodging a second punch, but stumbling and falling. "Damn it you got me, I'm down. You win this time." He said, getting up and dusting himself off.

"Well then there's no point in continuing." She said, calmly walking off. "You two have enough time to shower before class starts. I suggest you do so."

"Did she just say we smell?" I asked Robert, causing us both to laugh. We walked back to the changing rooms and showered, we even had time to quick run through the food line and grab a snack so we wouldn't starve. When we got to class, we were both surprised to see Chifuyu still in her training outfit.

"Hey, didn't have time to change?" Robert said as we walked in, just before the bell rang to be marked as late.

"No, I'm surprised, you two did. We're going to be exercising during class today. Or did you two forget." Ms. Orimura said.

"Yeah, I forgot." I admitted with my eyes closed. I quickly dodged a book that few too close for comfort to my face. "Hey! At least I'm honest!"

"Today class," She was ignoring me! RUDE! "We are going to be heading down to the training rooms and exercising. Having a well-toned physical body is extremely beneficial to an IS pilot so let's head to the changing rooms"

The rest of the day was a mixture of more running, weight lifting, and Gatorade drinking for Robert, Ms. Orimura, and I. There were several girls who needed help, as it was clear that they had never expected to work out as a part of school or had simply never done so before. And people criticize America for having mandatory gym classes, at least we knew what to do in a gym class! Ever since the IS was invented and women gained a lot of power, too much has changed. My thoughs on the subject, however, were interrupted by a loud yell.

"WHY MUST I PARTICIPATE IN THIS FOOLISH EXCERSIZE?" Cecilia yelled

"MS. ALCOTT, If you wish to remove yourself from this class I won't stop you. However, as one of the supposed ELETE, you should know the value of matching your physical body's ability's to that of your IS's as much as possible, making the IS an extension of your body." Ms. Orimura said, getting a frustrated, yet embarrassed glare from Cecilia.

"If that's the case, then why aren't Houki and Ichika here with us?" she demanded.

"Because this morning the two of them and I participated in a contest and they gave it their all, but burnt out. I gave them the rest of the day off to recover, excusing them from harming their body's by continuing to push themselves." Ms. Orimura explained. "And should anyone else truly reach their limits, they are also excused from class and any homework that would be assigned."

"That seems fair." Some girls said.

"Why wasn't I invited to go with Ichika?" some others said. Cecilia was thoroughly embarrassed and stomped to one of the corners of the gym, seemingly wanting to be alone. After a few glances my way from her and some other girls, I sighed and walked over to her.

"Hey." I said, sitting down on one of the leg machines that tones the inner thigh muscles. "You ok?"

"Why should a commoner like you care?" She said, looking away in disgust. I simply sighed again.

"Why do you act this way? We could be friends and train together, but you have to act superior." I asked.

"Because I am! A commoner like you wouldn't understand." She said. I let the weights drop with a loud crash, startling her and several others who just looked away.

"Let me guess, your parents were gone a lot, for most of your life in fact. One of them was your closest friend and the other was only a form of provider. One day, something happened and you were left alone with a massive inheritance, but what you wanted was a friend. Despite your efforts, everyone only saw you as a the 'Elite' girl who inherited her family's wealth." I said. "Am I on the right track?" Cecilia just looked at the ground, trying to hold back a sad expression, but I saw through it. Thank you military files on students attending the school, otherwise I wouldn't know any of this!

"Yeah…" she muttered, then let out a yelp as she was surprised when I got up and hugged her.

"I'm offering to be your friend. You don't need to act like a member of the elite anymore. You can be yourself here." I said, trying to cheer her up. What I didn't notice was that one; Cecilia was giving a small smile, and two; EVERY OTHER GIRL WAS GETTING ANGRY AT ME!

"Thank you." Cecilia said, gently pushing me away to signify that she was feeling better. "I mean that. It's been so long since I've had a friend. It's always been orders from people or others simply trying to get close to me to steal my family's fortune. The reason I became the Representative contender for the United Kingdom was because they said they would keep my family's wealth safe. But now I'm glad I came for a new reason."

"So were friends now?" I asked, a smile spreading across my face and extending my hand.

"Friends." She said, also smiling as she shook my hand.

"Good. Now, as my friend…" I said, gaining an evil grin, "tomorrow morning we start training." Cecilia gulped and all the girls that were angry at me suddenly backed off. Robert and Ms. Orimura noticed this and had a small laugh, knowing exactly how Cecilia really felt about me now.

**THE NEXT DAY**

We were all out on the track like we were yesterday. There were a couple glances at Cecilia, who no one but me was expecting, and I set everyone strait with it. Houki and Ichika were complaining about still being sore, but a quick explanation later they stopped complaining.

"Resting too long will only make your muscles cramp up more, that why your sore. If you're up and moving, then the soreness will go away. Plus the more you get up and do this, the less likely you will end up getting sore. Now, since we know that Ichika and Houki can do around 10 miles, I want you two to do just under that." I said, earning confused looks from the two of them. "Well save runs that push you two for the weekends so you don't miss classes like yesterday. Now, Cecilia, today you are going to run till you drop." I said with an evil grin on my face, causing Cecilia to gulp with nervousness. Even Ichika and Houki were scared by the look on my face. The sad thing was that I was just mimicking my uncle when he had started training me, though he never pushed me too far.

"Let's go!" Chifuyu said as she and the rest of us started to run, though I quickly realized that I thought of her a Chifuyu instead of Ms. Orimura when we were training and outside of class. Eh, shouldn't matter too much, especially since Robert just kept calling her Chifuyu regardless of where we were at the time. The two of them had no clue that they liked each other, despite it being obvious to **EVERYONE ELSE**. I'm pretty sure that Ichika didn't appreciate Roberts's advances towards his sister, though I think if she was happy in the end he wouldn't care. I really should ask him some time.

But first I had to whip these kids into shape. Hehehe.

**LATER**

After bringing Cecilia back to her room, I went to mine and showered before class. Ms. Orimura had given me and Robert a pass to be late since we didn't want to show up smelling badly. Robert was waiting on the spare bed for his turn. As I showered I thought about how Cecilia, Ichika, and Houki had performed today.

Houki had performed better than she had the day before, though I think that had to do with the speech I had given her and a desire to impress Ichika and show off to Cecilia. She had insisted on running the full time instead of stopping like I had told them to when we started. Thankfully, her body didn't give out like it had the previous day, a sign that my training was working already.

Cecilia had surprised everyone when she managed to go 12 miles instead of the 10 that Ichika and Houki had done their first day. Though once she reached her limit, she dropped like a sack of potatoes. Thankfully, she fell into the grass instead of onto the track. However, we let her lay down to let Ichika finish.

He had been the best performer out of the three (Robert, Chifuyu, and I not being added due to our higher skill), and has surprised the shit out of me. He managed to run for 15 miles today before stopping. If he could keep that up, then I would be having to train him on IS piloting sooner that I thought. Tonight would be combat training then, I decided. Maybe Houki could come train too. We would see.

I finished my shower and let Robert take his while I got dressed, silently tanking the military for getting rid of the awkwardness of seeing fellow mechanics and servicemen and women naked. I knew it would be different here, it being all girls, but the military life had probably taken the worst of it away. Though apparently Robert had heard some rumors of girls shipping me and Ichika… yeah that wasn't happening. Ever.

Robert finished and we went to class. It was another typical day: Ms. Orimura throwing books at me for no reason, her throwing books at Robert for calling her Chifuyu in class and hitting on her, me dodging said books and Robert getting hit. How did she even have all these books anyway? Were they all stored in her quantum storage area? Man that's a lot of books.

The plus side to living at a school of all girls was defiantly the food though. Robert and I treated ourselves every time we ate, though it was actually to make sure our bodies were getting enough calories and nutrients despite our extreme workouts. Despite only being here for around a week (since we got here a couple days early) we already had a reputation for being some of the biggest eaters.

After classes, I grabbed Ichika and Robert and headed to the training field. Ichika had no clue what he was in for when I told him we were training, but Robert knew all too well what was going to be happening. He had been on the receiving end of this training countless times. We got to the field and Ichika was fed up of being left out of the loop.

"What is going on." He said, clearly irritated and not going to go along with anything until he knew why he was being dragged out her.

"Training." I said, adopting a tone that he hadn't before: a drill instructor. I wouldn't go full drill instructor on him, but enough so that he knew I was going to be serious about this.

"What type of training." He said, still with a tone of attitude. A quick kick to the back of his legs and a hand to his throat as he landed on the ground quickly shut him up and made him lose his attitude. "Ohhh, what was that for?" he groaned.

"Training." I said again. "I'm going to teach you how to fight, since I have military training, as does Robert. The way I see it, any experience is better than none. If you don't want to do this, then we can all go to bed sooner."

"No, let's do this." Ichika said, standing up and dusting himself off. "So who do I fight first?"

"Yourself." Robert said, taking over. I simply nodded. "Right now your biggest weakness is that you don't really have anything to fight for, and that you will be judging yourself the whole time as you screw up. So tonight it won't matter who you face, because you're just going to be fighting yourself."

"So take your pick. If you and Robert fight, we train for the whole night, but if you land a hit on me at any point, you will be done for the night. That offer will be here every night until it happens." I said.

"It sounds like you think you won't be hit for a while." Ichika said, getting some of his attitude back.

"Because I won't be. I'm not being cocky, its fact. I have military training plus some years in a fight club. You won't land a hit on me. Simple as that." I said. "And I won't be holding back besides kill blows."

"If you're going to be like that, then I'll be the one fighting him. You would end up killing him, even if you were holding back." Robert said, stepping forward.

"No." Ichika said. "I'll fight James."

"You sure? I'll leave you with bruises defiantly, and you probably won't land a hit on me either, but James is an animal. I have no idea why the hell he wanted to be a mechanic of all things." Robert explained.

"Then why would I try to learn from anyone other than the best person present?" Ichika retorted, making a surprisingly large amount of sense. Robert could have been offended, but wasn't. It was a sound decision.

"Then know that your life may end here." I said, my voice unwavering. "If you don't train like your life depends on it, then how will you react when the life of another depends on you?"

I dashed forward, going for a quick strike. Ichika put up his arms to defend himself, but only covered his face and my fist landed square in his gut, knocking the breath out of him. To his credit, he didn't go down immediately, but instead took a swing at me. His punch, however, was exceptionally slow due to the pain in his gut, so I grabbed his arm and threw him over my shoulder, using his own momentum as help. Ichika landed on the ground, gasping for air.

"Up." I said, my voice still the same as before. "Were only getting started. You still have two more hours of this."

"Your kidding." Ichika gasped, though more for air than out of shock.

"I don't kid around when it comes to training." I deadpanned.

"He really doesn't. He takes that from his uncle unfortunately." Robert sighed, wondering why the hell he was here anymore.

Ichika got back on his feet and charged, throwing a punch much faster than he had before, but it was still too slow and was easily deflected. However, it seemed that was just a feint, as Ichika's foot came flying up, intending to kick me in the gut or head. I quickly dropped to the ground and swept the feet out from underneath him, but this time instead of leaving him there I climbed on top of him and threw a punch at his face. He saw it coming at full force and braced, only to be surprised when it didn't connect. He opened his eyes to see it stopped, inches away from his eye.

Taking an opportunity, Ichika shoved me off and rolled away. Standing up, he was about to go on the offence again when I landed a punch strait to his face. Again, Ichika surprised me and tried to use the momentum of his spin from my punch to quickly spin around and land a heavy hit on me. I saw it coming though and punched his arm as he finished half a turn, causing his muscles to have spasms and stop his attack.

The fight continued for quite some time before I finally called the session over. Ichika was sweaty and bruised, completely out of breath. I was perfectly fine, as I hadn't taken a single hit. Though that wasn't for a lack of trying on Ichika's end. He had actually come close several times, only being deflected my mere inches and caused me to actually try at times. As a result, my breathing was only slightly faster than it normally was.

"Just what kind of hell did you crawl out of to be able to do all of that?" Ichika asked, slowly catching his breath. I grabbed one of the bottles of water we had brought and handed it to him.

"United States Rangers and Navy Seals training camps, though as a mechanic I've never seen combat and ended up on special assignment fixing military IS units since graduation from basic. Still, any boot camp is pure hell, but it weeds out those who wouldn't be able to stand next to those who will need someone at their side." I said, cracking a smile.

"The seals? Fuck, if you had told me that I would have fought Robert." Ichika said.

"I went through the same thing, though James here got top honors." Robert said, smiling. "Why don't you tell him about the selection process for the Seals alone?"

"There's four stages. Selection, Physical Test, Hell Week, and General Training. During selection, the only prerequisite is that you must be male, age 17 to 28, with a high school diploma. Then you get put into groups of a thousand people, due to the high interest in becoming a Seal team member since they became infamous at taking down Osama Bin Laden, and start the physical tests. 50 push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups all in under 2 minutes for each, followed by a 1.5 mile run in 18.5 minutes and a 500 yard swim in 12.5 minutes. That drops the thousand recruits down to around 200 on average."

"Then there's hell weak, or this week for you, since I got permission from your sister to drill the living shit out of you. During each day will be 20 hours of hell and 4 hours of sleep. Its designed to put you to your absolute limits, a total of 132 hours of continuous physical labor and mental fatigue. Of that, only 50 of the original 1000 remain. After that is 8 weeks of underwater tactics, 9 weeks of land warfare tactics, and 3 weeks of parachute jump school. All during which you can be ejected from the course for even the smallest error."

"So, knowing that me and Robert managed to get through all that, only to be called off on special assignment before we finished, do you still want us to train you. This will be your last chance to back out." I said. Robert was sitting there, smiling and nodding his head as I spoke. Ichika's eyes had grown as I talked, but his face held a look of determination.

"I'm sure, though I'll probably regret it later." Ichika said with a determined smile. "And one day ill beat you."

"I'll look forward to that." I said, giving Ichika a fist bump. And with that we went our separate ways to bed, Ichika and I going the same way to a point while Robert just walked off. Needless to say, I was sure that Ichika was going to be sleeping quite soundly tonight, if he lives through Houki attacking him for not telling her he was training with me.

As I flopped down on my bed, I realized just how big of a challenge I had gotten myself into with training others. Even if it was just physical training and sparing with Ichika, it was going to take a toll on my grades if I didn't pay attention to them. Then throw Chifuyu in the mix and its changed from training to keeping her away from Robert.

Not wanting to keep thinking along that line of thought, I grabbed my phone and sent a text to myself. A minute later I ended up with a reply from that mysterious "friend." I still had no clue who the hell they were, but there was always a chance it was just some joker messing around with me, or more likely considering where I was before coming here, some unknown alien who was keeping tabs on me. That thought made me visibly shudder in fear. Regardless of who the individual was, they were amazing at not letting any hints slip at who the hell they were, and it was really starting to annoy me. After saying goodnight, since there's no reason to not be polite, I turned the light out and fell asleep.

The next week was more or less the same thing: early morning running for Ichika, Cecilia, and Houki, then Robert would hit on Chifuyu and she would fight back (though she was fighting it less and less now). After a shower, we would go to class and get lectured, I would zone out unless it was something I didn't know, and the nights were spent sparing with Ichika. He was getting a lot better, though I would have liked to actually fight with our IS's once. It's too bad his wasn't going to be here until the day of the fight.

Which was tomorrow. Today, being a Sunday, I had decided to let the training end at a smaller run and gave everyone the day off, though it's not like we had classes today anyway. I was wandering the halls, marking potential escape routes when I accidentally stumbled into a girl as we turned the corner at the same time.

"Sorry about that." I said, not falling down but causing her to fall despite my attempts to catch her. I offered my hand to help her up. "That was my bad, I should have been paying more attention."

"Your damn right you should have." She said. "Why the hell are you even here? The IS should only be operable to females. You're just ruining the purity of the name of IS pilots everywhere."

"Listen, I didn't ask to be a pilot." Figures, I knew there were going to be girls like this at the school. The world was, unfortunately, mostly like this girl here. Demanding that females take their place over males in all aspects due to the sheer firepower they wielded with the IS. They had already been making pushes in several governments for female leaders, and women killing men because of a simple wronging was becoming more and more frequent.

"Like ill believe that! You men are all the same, and it's high time someone put you in your place!" the girl yelled, throwing a punch much faster than I expected, but easily dodged regardless. I let out a sigh.

"I'm telling the truth. Sort of. While yes I was messing around with an IS, I never expected it to actually work and I didn't ask to be sent here as a pilot!" I tried to explain, dodging another punch. She was getting better and I was actually concentrating a lot on dodging her attacks.

She, however, wouldn't believe a thing I said and kept swinging, eventually landing a grazing blow on my shoulder after I had deflected her hit to my face. Thinking that the security cameras had enough footage to show that I hadn't attacked or provoked her intentionally and had only been defending myself, I decided to end this. I ducked under another of her jabs and shot forward, tackling her to the ground. I quickly rolled off her and stood, ready to actually start fighting.

She quickly jumped up and swung a left hook at me, which I grabbed and pulled to bring her close and land a solid punch to the gut, leaving her breathless for a minute. Instead of walking away, I stayed to make sure she would be alright. I immediately regretted that when she stood and IS arms materialized around her. Deeply regretting not setting up anything for the Rouge to quick summon from I did the next best thing when facing an opponent with greater firepower.

I ran.

And thank goodness I did too, because she started destroying anything in her path to get to me. Chairs, desks, and more than one person were injured in her lust to destroy me. I needed to get her away from people at the very least and fight her in the open. As I rounded a corner, I ducked and avoided a metal fist to my head as she soared past me due to the momentum of her punch. And in front of me was a delivery man… yeah I'm not even going to question that. He looked at me and seemed to be satisfied that he had found who he was looking for.

"Package for James Reverend. Sign here." He said. Not wasting ANY time, I signed for the package and ripped it open. Inside there was just a single black and blue, fingerless glove and a note. Grabbing both and leaving the rest of the package with the delivery man, I started running as the girl came back and busted a hole in the wall trying to hit me. I kept running, keeping everyone I came across out of the way of the rampaging girl behind me. After a couple minutes, I got a small rest as I lost her, but I knew she would find me soon enough. I decided to read the note and find out why the hell a delivery man had given me just a single glove.

"Dear James," why am I not surprised it's from THAT person "I've discovered you haven't given your IS a form when in standby mode for you to summon it. It is very important that you have access to it at any moment, as there are bound to be others who resent you as an IS pilot." YOU DON'T SAY! "The glove in the package has already been configured by myself to summon your IS. I hope that you like it! Sincerely, a friend."

"Thank you, ya daffy bastard whoever you are." I muttered as I quickly put on the glove… and realized I had NO CLUE ON HOW TO SUMMON ROUGE! I looked at the paper again and saw writing on the back, which explained I just needed to think about summoning the whole thing or just various parts, AFTER A FIVE MINUTE CALABRATION! Its ok, I just have to hold out for five more minutes, and I'll be fin- DUCK!

"THOUGHT YOU LOST ME DIDN'T YOU!" the crazy girl yelled as she smashed through the wall and charged at me. Where the hell are all the teachers? Shouldn't **SOMEONE** not be hearing this and reporting it to the staff? She had injured three girls already! I narrowly dodged another punch and started running, eagerly wanting to get away from the crazy girl and save my life. There was no way in hell I could go up against THAT on my own, without any sort of weaponry.

I kept up the running and managed to get outside, allowing her to materialize the rest of her IS, a bright pink and orange color scheme that wasn't there when it had just been the arms. There were two, triangle-like shapes around her shoulders and he had large, almost feather like wings.

'THIS IS BAD, THIS IS VERY VERY BAD!' I kept thinking to myself as I started sprinting, narrowly avoiding the punches she was still throwing. Deciding that wasn't working, she brought out a Morningstar and tried to crush me beneath its spiked ball. Finally, after what had felt like a year of just dodging, the glove on my hand tightened itself as if to signify that it was ready.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted, causing the girl to stop, mid-swing. "If you continue this, I will assume self-defense and start fighting back."

"GOOD LUCK!" she said, continuing her swing. The spiked ball about to hit me when I reached up and materialized Rouge's arms and grabbed the ball. The girl let out a shocked gasp as I easily broke the ball and materialized the rest of Rouge and a very sharp broadsword. The girl's face, instead of having a look of fear like I had expected, took on an insane persons look and laughed. She flew back and took out a laser rifle and started to snipe me from a distance. I blocked most of the shots, but my shields took a few hits. Curse this schools desire to limit how many shield points I get! I should have a near limitless amount, but can only use 700! And from just a couple of hits, I'm down to around 550! Just how powerful is that damn laser!

Diving to avoid an overcharged shot, I threw my broadsword like a spear and landed a hit, but my sword fell to the ground after and I couldn't run to grab it. Instead I summoned a large shield and a rifle of my own and took aim. The shield would allow me to block a lot more shots, but I would lose 5 shield points for every hit regardless. I started to fire back, keeping her moving so she couldn't get a proper hit on me.

Still smiling her insane smile, she kept firing regardless and was constantly dropping my shields with each hit. I needed to end this quickly before someone else ended up getting hurt, when all of a sudden two large beams struck my shield and send me flying back. Not knowing what the hell that was, I quickly sprinted behind a building and checked my shield points. They were at a rather low 200. If I took another hit like that, I would be done. Thankfully there was the Active shield system to keep me from taking any damage after that, since it was a failsafe designed to protect the pilot at all cost.

Just as I was about to turn the corner and start shooting, I end up face to face with the crazy girl, who happen to be charging up her shoulder cannons. Well, at least I know what the hell hit me. Now… DODGE DOGDE DODGE! I dove towards her, losing another 50 shield points from the blast hitting my feet as I dodged, and took a swing at her with the shield pierce dagger that I had. She seemed to be expecting that, however and kicked me square in the face, sending me flying. She immediately started to charge her cannons again, and I tried to summon my shield to negate most of the attack, but just as it was being summoned, her blast hit me. There was a loud pop as my shields disappeared and the Active Shield appeared, surrounding only my body. The Rouge's armor started to take hits and the girl was quite surprised. Then again, the armor was a combination of Titanium, Trinium, and Naquadah so it was meant to take some strong hits. She looked furious, then simply smiled and walked forward and picked me up.

"How does it feel to know your life is in my hands?" she asked, her voice dripping with venom.

"Eat shit and die bitch." Was all I said before firing the cannons that were mounted in my shoulders. At point blank, the blast was near deafening and sent the two of us flying. We each slammed into two buildings. My whole body hurt like hell, and I was so tired. I slowly felt my eyes close, and let darkness consume me.

LATER

I awoke with a jolt, sitting strait up and immediately regretting doing that. My whole body hurt like hell and any movement just made it hurt worse. I looked around and saw that I was in the medical room of the school. Just as I was about to lay back down, the door slammed open and Ms. Orimura stood in the doorway. As she walked in, she was followed by Ichika, Houki, Robert, and Cecilia, as well as a fifth girl I didn't recognize.

"You're awake. Good." Was all Ms. Orimura had to say, though she did look somewhat relieved. Houki and Cecilia hugged me, though they quickly let go when they realized I was in pain from it.

"We went sure if you were going to wake up!" Houki said, showing a surprising amount of concern, though I guessed she would show a lot more, plus anger, should Ichika get hurt.

"I certainly wasn't looking forward to one of my friends potentially not waking up!" Cecilia said, and despite her tone I knew she meant well.

"Damn man, you scared the shit out of us." Robert said, and slapped my back, knowing damn well that it hurt.

"Yeah, don't think you're getting out of being the only male IS pilot here." Ichika said, giving me a fist bump. My eyes turned to the last girl in the room. She was a young teenage girl with light brown hair tied in twintails with a yellow ribbon at both sides. Compared to Houki and Cecilia, she was quite petite, and her uniform appeared to be modified, seeing as her sleeves were detached from her uniform. Despite not knowing me, she had a large smile on her face which let me notice that she had a fang as one of her teeth.

"I know we just met, but I'm glad your ok! Any friend of Ichika's is a friend of mine! I'm Lingyin Hange, but you can call me Ling or Rin. I'm fine with either." She said.

"Nice to meet you." I replied,

"Well, since your awake and introductions are out of the way, I suppose we should get down to business." Ms. Orimura said. We all quieted down, and I paid as much attention as I could despite the pain in my body. "Let's first start off with your injuries. You sustained a major concussion as well as cracked ribs, but that was the worst of it. You're going to be immensely sore for the next week or so, but you should make a full recovery."

"As for your opponent, we have discovered that she was never a member of this school, and that her IS had been stolen from France. She's from a group who largely opposes you and Ichika becoming IS pilots. Ill spare you the majority of the details, but she was out for blood. Yours and Ichika's as well."

"Do we know what the name of the group is?" I asked, eager to go and fight anyone who happened to try and take me out.

"Sadly, she refused to tell us, and we can't ask her now. I'd rather not say how, but she managed to kill herself. Now, as for you're IS…" Ms. Orimura said, looking at Robert.

"The frame itself has taken much more damage than it should have. Whatever those cannons were, they packed a hell of a punch and you're lucky to get away with what little injuries you have. We would have to spend a whole month back in the US to get the unit back up and running, but there's another problem…" Robert explained. "The IS's core, the thing that lets the whole unit run and stores personal data as well as combat info… was destroyed. When the Active Shield was used, it only protected you, instead of you and the core. If the core breaks while Active Shield is in use, well it just stops working and you become encased in a immobile metal suit. When you fired your shoulder cannons and got sent flying, the first thing that impacted was the core which shattered."

"Basically, it means you won't be piloting that IS anymore." Ms. Orimura deadpanned. "Even if you got the unit up and running, it would never run the same way again."

"I have a question…" I said. "If I don't have an IS, what am I going to do about the Class Rep battle?" Everyone was quiet for a while after I asked that. Finally, Ichika spoke up.

"James… you've been unconscious for over a week. The battle is well and done." He said.

"A WEEK!?" I yelled. "IVE BEEN OUT COLD FOR A WEEK?"

"Quiet down," Ms. Orimura said. "There was nothing you or we could do about it and yes, Ichika is right. It's been a little over a week since you were knocked out. Be grateful you even woke up at all. Now lay down and get some rest. You're not going to be leaving here for a few days to make sure that nothing serious happens now that you're awake. Everyone else, let's go."

Everyone slowly left the room, saying goodbye and that they would be back when I was feeling better. I simply waved and smiled, and gave a small nod when Robert handed me my phone so I could at least do **SOMETHING** during my recovery. So far this hadn't been what I was expecting for a IS school. Especially the assassin.

I still couldn't believe I had been out for a whole week. I probably was out for most of the pain, so that was some relief, but I had never been down for so long from a single fight. That cannon had to have packed quite the punch. Trying to get away from those thoughts and distract myself, I unlocked my phone and immediately received a message from my "friend." It read a simple, four word message.

It's time to meet.

**AND HERE WE HAVE IT FOLKS! THE END OF CHAPTER THREE! I know I promised to reveal a character this chapter, but I figured that it would be better to leave you with a cliff hanger instead!**

**James: but what about Rin?**

**Well, that was because you were out cold for a week and she transferred in. Needless to say, she's going to be team Ichika. Cecilia will be between Ichika and James, just so were clear.**

**James: and what about the class rep battle?**

**Well, since you were knocked out, the battle went just as it did in the anime. Ichika ended up winning both the match as well as Cecilia's affection. If you really want, you can go and watch the anime for the battle or find some other story! This is my story, and that's staying the same so I saw no reason to end up writing it again. **

**James: Lazy…**

**Two words James. FANGIRL**

**James: that's technically two words…**

**PIT!**

**James: OH FUCK NO!**

**Hehe. Next time James. I'm feeling merciful today. Anyway, as always, please leave a review! I appreciate all feedback, positive or negative! Also, with school starting up soon im not sure how often either of my stories are going to be updated, so disregard anything ive said or posted before this. Ill be writing as much as i can. See you all next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**ALRIGHT GUYS ITS TIME FOR CHAPTER FOUR! And if you remember from last time, that means we get to find out WHO JAMES' STALKER IS!**

**James: yay….**

**Come on James, have a little enthusiasm. Besides, I'm guessing more than a couple of readers have already guessed who it is.**

**James: no surprise there. Most of the readers are probably smarter than you are.**

**…**

**James:…**

**…**

**James: please don't**

**…****fine. But that's the last time you're getting out of punishment. ANYWAY, I actually intended for a different character to make their debut, but as I was writing I just felt like things worked out better this way instead. So NEXT chapter, if things go right, that character shall be revealed. Not that I'm promising that will happen, seeing as I write these top author notes before writing the chapter, then clarifying things at the bottom.**

**James: not saying anything…**

**Good. Also, my other story is going to be on hiatus during the school year. I'll still be writing, but I won't be posting anything until a break or the end of school. I just want to be able to focus more on school and not have to worry about two different stories to write as well. Sorry about that, but collage is hard and I need to pass my classes. Now, without further delay…**

**James: HERES CHAPTER 4!**

**_Chapter 4_**

**_WHY ARE YOU MY STALKER?!_**

It had been a week since I had awoken from being nearly killed by some wackjob who had a grudge against me and Ichika for being able to pilot an IS. A whole week of being bedridden due to lingering side effects from firing my shoulder mounted cannons at point blank range. To everyone's dismay, some of those 'side effects' were going to be permanent, such as my inability to see out of my left eye. No one was expecting that to just happen, seeing as when I had woke up I was just sore as hell and could **USE** both of my eyes.

Eventually, the let me leave the infirmary and start attending class again, but had me come in now and then for checkups and to see how I was adjusting. They had even given me my own personal counselor who, being rather nice, had agreed to meet me at any time of the day. Other than the brief visit she paid me in the infirmary, I hadn't seen her since and had told her that I probably wouldn't need her services. Thankfully she had taken that in a good way instead of assuming that I was just being reluctant. I just didn't think I really needed a counselor since I figured this would happen at some point. Though losing an eye was a shocker.

And the IS core breaking was another. After getting permission from the school, the president himself had flown over with some technical advisors and went over the combat data as well as talked to me about the incident. They discovered that someone had been tampering with the unit, but nothing that had been messed with would have affected the Active Shield from only protecting me and not the core as well.

The president had been very sympathetic, seeing as he didn't expect me to be attacked at the school of all places, and told me that I had already served my country gloriously and that if I wanted to I wouldn't be officially named the US representative contender, though due to my telling people and technically agreeing to the contract, I would be a representative contender no matter what.

I told him that I just wanted out of the spotlight and happily took the secondary position. Let someone else be the true US contender, I just wanted to survive being at the damn school now. The president then left with his technicians, the rouge having already been sent back while I was still knocked out, saying they would be repairing it and would try to find a spare IS core, but that I shouldn't get my hopes up on that. I understood and let them leave with the rouge, saddened to see it go. I knew that I would likely never pilot it again, but that didn't mean that it was any less a part of me than my own skin and bones. It was a part of me, and I was watching it go. Instead of just losing my eye, it felt like I had lost my eye and my body.

But then there was that message to deal with, which was why I was currently sitting on a helicopter, heading to an unknown destination in the middle of the night. My mysterious 'friend' had decided that it was time to meet, and that as soon as I was to be released form the infirmary I was to message them. What I didn't expect was instructions to go to the roof at midnight, and having to dodge several patrols of the schools guards to get there. The board of directors apparently hadn't liked the idea of a student being nearly killed, so they had upped security a lot since the incident.

I still had no idea who this 'friend' of mine was. They refused to tell me their identity, only saying: "You'll know me when you see me!" As the helicopter started to descend, I sighed and hoped that what they said would be true. I would have looked out the windows to see where we were heading or landing, but the helicopters passenger bay had no windows to speak of, leaving me in the dark, literally, until we finally landed and moonlight filled the room as the cargo ramp dropped down. What happened next, yeah I'm still trying to sort that out myself.

"JAMES-KUN!" a female voice said, seconds before I was tackled to the ground. The cargo bay door wasn't even half way open! How had this person gotten in and tackled me!

"W-What?" I stammered as the female pinned me to the ground, then rolled off and started to drag me out the door, WHICH WAS STILL NOT HALF OPEN! "Hold on, who are you and where are you taking me?"

"You'll see~" was all I heard before my head landed on some rocks and I was knocked out.

"Are you ok? I didn't mean to knock you out like that! I was going to use gas instead, I swear!" the voice said as I slowly started to wake up. Why was I being knocked out so much lately?

"Yeah, I'm fine… wait, you planned to knock me out?" I said, my eyes still closed.

"Yeah, but only after you agreed! I am here to help you, ya know!" the voice said. So this was my 'friend.' Yeah, the universe was being exceptionally cruel to me to give me a friend who knocks me out **BEFORE** they wanted to knock me out. Begrudgingly, I started to open my eyes and see who fate had decided to throw at me this time.

The first thing I noticed was her frilly, maid-like blue and white dress, promptly before noticing her pair of robotic rabbit ears and her long purple hair. Upon noticing just these three traits, I let out a very large sigh, both out of surprise, and at my own stupidity for not thinking it would be her. Her antics had caught the attention of the entire world, and most of the time, not in a good way.

Yeah, if you haven't guessed it, standing in front of me was Tabane Shinonono. The creator of the IS and Houki's older sister. The only thing going through my head was a single question. Well, more than one, but this one was the most prominent.

"Why? Why go through all of this simply to get me here. You know that if you had just asked, **ANYONE** would have come rushing out here." I asked her as she twirled around the room we were now in.

"But I don't want just anyone! I wanted you here! And if I had done it any other way, you wouldn't have acted normally towards me." She said, her ears drooping as she said that last part in a sad tone. Well, that was probably true. If I had known it was Tabane I had been talking to, I wouldn't have cussed her out a couple times… which I deeply regretted doing now.

"Alright, but why me?" I asked, curious as to why I had been chosen.

"Because you shouldn't be able to pilot an IS." She said, taking up a more serious tone. "I had arranged for Ichika to be able to pilot an IS, but you shouldn't be able to. At least, in theory you shouldn't be able to."

"In theory? I'd say that it's been a pretty proven theory before me and Ichika came along." I said, sitting up from the couch I was laying on.

"No, the IS Ichika had touched had a modified core in it so that it would simply move when he used it, and during his entrance test, he had been given a shot that added an extra gene to let him pilot any IS. You shouldn't have that gene, and if you do, it still shouldn't let you pilot an IS." Tabane said, sitting down in a chair across from me.

"Why not? If I have the same gene as Ichika, wouldn't it make sense for me to pilot an IS?" I asked.

"No, because I only set the cores to check for the gene within Ichika's blood and no one else's. You are a huge outlier in my plans." She said before taking up a bright smile. "But a very welcome one at that! It's been too long since I've had a good challenge!"

"Why do I think that this will end badly for me…" I muttered under my breath. "Alright, so why did you bring me here?"

"To help you obviously! Why else do you think I had given you a shield pierce dagger and the glove to summon your IS?" she said, still smiling as bright as ever. "But before that, we need to make a deal. You have information that I want, and I have, obviously, ways of getting you a new IS. So it's a trade. Your information for my continued help!"

"What information? You mean the reason why I can pilot an IS?" I asked.

"Nope!" she said, getting serious again. "It's about your old IS, the Rouge. The power generators on that use an element that is not natural to earth and are far beyond earths most advanced nuclear reactors. Your armor also contains the same element, as well as a second unknown element and is much stronger than any metal combination on earth while remaining impossibly light."

Upon hearing this I got nervous. What she was asking for was highly classified information, secrets that I couldn't just be let out to just anyone. This whole decision could greatly affect not only my future, but global relations should she share the information with the world's leaders. Then again, there was that meeting a few years ago that told several nations about the Stargate program, and if I remembered right, Japan was one of them…

"Fuck it." I said, which surprised Tabane, probably because she though I meant I wasn't going to answer. "Despite it being **HIGHLY** classified information, I guess I can tell you. But remember this, you can't tell ANYONE about this. Not your parents, not your sister, no one. Ok?"

"YEAHYEAHYEAH! THANK YOUUUUU!" she yelled, diving forward and hugging me tightly. My face, incidentally, ended up right in her chest and I quickly realized I couldn't breathe. After pushing her back just enough, I took a gasp for air. Tabane realized what had happened and, while blushing slightly, loosened her grip on me. "Wow! I thought Chi-Chan was the only one who could push me back without an IS! Still, are you ok?"

"I'm fine." I said, still being hugged by her. "Now, do you want to know this, or would you rather just keep hugging me all night?"

"Both!" she said, her blush fading away as she took back her childlike attitude. I simply sighed and sat down, dragging her down with me seeing as she wouldn't let go.

"Well, I guess I should start by explaining a project that he US military has been running for a while now…"

LATER

"And that's how I ended up attending this school, with a prototype IS equipped with advanced tech we acquired through the Stargate." I said, wrapping up the story that had taken FAR too long to tell with her questioning everything.

"That makes a lot of sense." She said, having long ago taken up her scientific side and questioning me on things during my story. Despite that, she was **STILL** hugging me, but I had gotten used to it. "But why has the US kept me away from a project like that?"

"We haven't…" I said, standing up and freeing myself from her hug. I walked over to a table in the room and sifted through the pile of letters that was there, taking every one that was sent from the US. "You just don't check your mail is all. I have 20 letters here asking you to join the program, though they don't say what program exactly. There's also some letters asking for more cores since they were using the IS for live combat and have been very effective in fighting the Goa'uld."

"Ohhhh…." She said, her rabbit ears folding down as she twiddled her fingers. "So that's what they meant. Well, knowing there's probably more to the story that you don't know.."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence" I interrupted.

"Then I should probably get in touch with them. Just thinking of all the possible new variants I could build, all the advances to the IS I can make..!" she said, bouncing around in pure glee. "This is what the IS was truly made for! Space exploration!"

"Well, be sure to not mention that I told you about the project. Last thing I need is to be charged with treason for handing out military secrets." I deadpanned, walking over and sitting back on the couch, only to be engulfed in another hug from Tabane.

"I wouldn't do that to you, James-Kun~!" she said smiling. "You trusted with that information, so trust me a little more when I say I won't implicate you in anything!"

"Then how would you get me a new IS?" I asked. Tabane just blinked a couple times, her mouth forming an O before returning to a smile.

"Ok, so I might implicate you a little!" she said, not even trying to hide it! "But don't worry, I have a plan! Now, I believe it's time for me to honor my part of the deal!" She got up and dragged me, again, to a room filled with medical equipment. In the center was an operating table, which she promptly threw me on.

"Ummm, what's going on?" I asked, growing nervous of what she might have planned.

"Well, seeing as you lost the use of your left eye, I was going to help you by replacing it!" she said as she put a mask over my mouth. "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit, and you'll thank me later!"

"What do you mean replace my eye?! And why would this hurt! What's goi… going on…" I tried to say, before being knocked out by the gas I was inhaling through the mask.

LATER

I awoke with a small pain in my eye, but I guess that was better than feeling nothing instead. I tried to get up, but found myself restrained to the operating table. 'Probably tried to fight it, even being knocked out.' I thought to myself.

"So you're awake!" Tabane said, not that I could see her with the blindfolds she had put on me, but I imagined she was probably happy that I wasn't dead. "Tell me, do you feel any intense pain or sharp jolts anywhere?"

"Is there a reason I should?" I asked, still groggy from the gas. "And a reason why you did that **WITHOUT MY CONSENT**!"

"Well, you do have a new electronic eye, so I wanted to be sure that you were going to be ok, and I doubt you would have said yes to my methods!" She said, her voice holding that childlike tone to it.

"Then can you take off my blindfolds and un-restrain me please?" I asked simply.

"Sure!" she said. For some reason I imagined her skipping over to me from wherever she was. It… wasn't an unpleasant thought and that scared me. When she finally took of the blindfold, I waited until she had unrestrained me before opening my eyes. As I did so, I immediately noticed that something was off.

"Tabane… Why does it look like there's computer icons in my vision?"

"Well, since it's a prototype prosthetic eye, I figured that it should do more than just what a regular eye should. Though you will need a special contact lenses for your other eye in order to properly see and use it." She explained.

"No, I mean WHY IS THERE COMPUTER ICONS IN MY HEAD WHEN YOU SAID THE DEAL WAS TO GIVE ME A IS CORE?" I yelled. Tabane simply smiled.

"Go on, introduce yourself!" she said, instead of explaining herself.

"Um… Hello." A young sounding female voice said from the speakers in the room, though it sounded like it came from my head as well.

"Um, who's there?" I asked, curious as to where the voice was coming from. "And why does it sound like you're in my head?"

"That's because I am." The voice said before a light appeared on the screen from the contact lenses and my new 'eye.' It was a young looking girl with a pink dress and detached sleeves with pink anklets. She had long, dark hair and bright black eyes. She also had a pair of semi-transparent wings coming from her back. Without saying another word, I looked at Tabane with a glare that demanded an explanation.

"That is the personality of your new IS core! A new prototype that was a part of the prosthetic eye I gave you. Basically, it made you half man, half machine! Also, the screen of yours is kind of a heads up display, or HUD for short. You can turn it off and on at your leasure, but she will always be there unless she decided to fly off." Tabane explained. "Go on, give him your name!" She said, seemingly looking right at the girl and ushering her. I looked back at the girl, who was smiling innocently, but also shyly.

"My n-name is Yui! I-It's a pleasure to meet you!" she said nervously before bowing on the HUD. This was going to take some **MAJOR** getting used to.

"Hello Yui." I said with a sigh. "So you're the personality of my new IS?"

"Kind of. I'm the personality of the IS core… not the IS itself. A good analogy is that I am the IS's soul, while the frame is the body and the pilot it the consciousness." Yui explained, while Tabane nodded.

"Well, this is going to take some time to get used to. I better carry around some wireless speakers so that no one thinks I'm crazy for talking to myself.

'Well you can always just think your words. I'm connected to your brain, so I can tell your thoughts as well as share some of your memories, but only what you let me see.' Yui said inside my head. That was an extremely strange experience. 'I know it's strange. I'm also getting used to it as well.'

"Anyway, I think we need a cover story. There's no way anyone will believe that you just gave me a prototype IS core, plus an IS for free. They'll know something was up. I say we come forward and say that I told you a bit about the Stargate project, after you approached me as being one of the male IS pilots. I told you that the project was where I got my advanced generator and armor for my IS and nothing else, but your curiosity got piqued and you decided to give me the IS and the core for shedding light on the project that you had heard about but wouldn't trust yet."

"Okey-doki!" Tabane said with a smile while Yui wrote that all down so that it could be brought up at a moment's notice. That was going to be extremely helpful in countless situations. Hearing that, Yui looked up and smiled, apparently over her shyness. "Now then," Tabane said, getting me and Yui's attention, "Let me show you to your new IS."

She led us out of the room down a long corridor. Yui's hologram appearance flying off HUD, so I followed and saw her land on my shoulder. It was only then that I got a real image of how small she really was, around 10cm tall. Why would Tabane have given me this…pixie… as my IS core. Seeming to hear that, despite my attempts to hide it from her, Yui looked over and smiled.

'Tabane gave me to you because she felt like you were someone special. I was the first core Tabane created, but instead of being used, she felt like I would be needed for something more special than just being the first. To hide this, I wasn't given the core number 001, and was instead given number 000. Also, to help me feel more at ease, she created the contact lenses your using on your right eye so that she could see and talk to me as well.' Yui explained.

'So you were that special to her?' I asked, feeling weird about talking inside my own head.

'Yes, though she has never told me why. Even her friend Chi-Chan doesn't know about me.' Yui said.

'I assume that Chi-Chan is Chifuyu Orimura?'

'Yup! She's always seemed like a nice person, though she was quick to be annoyed by Tabane's antics.'

"That doesn't surprise me." I unknowingly said out loud until Yui told me and Tabane turned around and smiled at us.

"So, already having private conversations?" she teased until she saw where Yui was sitting. "No fair! Yui-Chan gets to sit on your shoulders? She never did that with me!" Tabane said, crossing her arms and pouting. Yui laughed.

"You never asked me to. And I was never inside your body." Yui said, though it sounded a bit creepy and even she shuddered when she said that.

"Well, its still not fair." Tabane continued pouting until Yui sighed and flew over to her and sat on her shoulders. "Thank you Yui-Chan~!" she said, immediately perking up. I simply sighed and followed the two, seemingly the only one who was completely sane and I doubted I would remain that way for very long.

'No fair, I'm perfectly sane! An AI can't go insane unless presented with a logic loop, and I was designed so even that couldn't stop me!' Yui said, somehow yelling and startling me, which caused her to laugh.

"Here we are!" Tabane said, throwing a pair of doors open and revealing a large, brightly lit room, filled with various equipment and monitors, but most noticeably, a large garage-like door leading to the open air. I had thought she would have had a sealed off base, not an out in the open work area. Lord know there were plenty of people out to kill her, or abduct her and have her work for them. Both of those were unlikely to happen, but still it's better to be safe than sorry.

"Ok… so where's the IS?" I asked, looking around and not seeing it.

"Tabane, you forgot to raise the platform!" Yui chastised.

"Oh right!" Tabane said, pulling a remote out of her pocket and pressing it. The floor opened up in a circular shape and lowered, only to slide into slots to avoid a similarly shaped platform that rose up to replace it. Standing on the platform was… a breifcase.

"Huh… I thought it would be bigger." I joked, getting a laugh out of Yui and a snicker out of Tabane.

"This is the armor in its most compact state, which allows for much easier travel with it compared to a traditional IS." Tabane explained as we walked up to it, Yui deciding to float using her wings.

"Wow Tabane, your giving him me and THAT unit?" Yui exclaimed, then took on a sly grin. "Just how special is James to you?"

"Oh hush Yui!" Tabane said, her cheeks getting slightly red. She took a quick glance at me to see if I noticed, and I did, but I acted like I was more interested in the IS at the moment. Which was true in a way, since Tabane felt I was special enough to get this unit. Tabane sighed, out of relief or disappointment I'm not sure, and continued here explanation. "The suit incorporates advanced fold-out armor throughout the entirety of the unit. If you step here," she said, indicating a certain spot on the metal briefcase, "then it activates the equipping protocol and conforms to your body. Go on now, try it!"

I looked at Tabane and Yui nervously before sighing. With a quick tap, I stepped on the spot Tabane marked and the briefcase folded out and two small cylindrical tubes came out. From the looks of it I was supposed to reach down and grab it, so I did just that, then pulled it up to my chest and extended my arms to my sides. The suit then slowly built itself around me until it had completely engulfed me. The HUD in my eyes turned off as the HUD on the unit activated.

"Ohhhhh, it looks better than I thought it would!" Tabane said with glee as she admired me in her IS. I rose my hand and looked at it, completely engulfed in a silver, almost mirror like armor. It was only when I looked in a mirror that Tabane had materialized out of nowhere that I realized just what she had based this IS after.

"…YOU MADE AN IRON MAN SUIT?!" I yelled in utter shock. "MORE SPCIFICLY, THE MARK 2 PROTOTYPE?"

"That's right! I loved the iron man movies and when I finished watching them, I thought to myself, huh, I wonder if I can make an IS like that. So I went out and bought the rights from Marvel and built the Mark II!" Tabane explained, spinning around the room as she talked. "I won't go into all the details, which would ruin a lot of surprises for you, but it has basically the same combat capability's as the Mark III with the repulsor gauntlets, the flares, its shoulder mounted multi-threat removal system, and of course, the Unibeam chest laser!"

"So… you literally recreated the iron man suit…" I said, still in shock. "Wait, if you recreated it with today's tech, then is it possible to upgrade it?" That caught Tabane off guard and she fell to the floor. After springing back up, she looked at me in confusion.

"What do you mean by upgrading it?" she asked, Yui flying up from where Tabane fell and plopping down on Tabane's head.

"Well, if it's a perfect recreation, then it uses a titanium-gold alloy for the armor, correct?" at Tabane's nod I continued. "Well the SGC has armor that's stronger and lighter as well. Would it be possible to replace or upgrade the armor to that eventually?"

"Hmmm, I don't see why not. Especially since some of the later suits use Vibranium for armor instead of the titanium-gold alloy which doesn't exist. I'll see what I can do, but it will have to wait for after I get working with the SGC." Tabane said, thinking about all the possibility's to improve the armor after finding out just what the SGC has to offer.

"That's fine. Just a thought I had and felt like sharing." I said, when all of a sudden I felt a horrible urge that could ruin my whole visit here. "Um… Tabane? How do I get this off?" I asked, holding in my urge to the best of my ability's.

"Oh, there's an icon on the HUD. Look at it and blink twice, then let the armor do the rest." She said, walking over to a workstation to already start drafting plans for future armor types. Yui was sitting on the top of the couch, laughing due to the thoughts running around in my head. I activated the icon and the suit came off, much slower than I wanted it to considering how fast it attached to me. Finally, after a couple of minutes, it returned to its briefcase state.

"Good, now… **where's the bathroom**?" I asked, the urge getting close to being overwhelming. Yui was laughing like a maniac now and Tabane started to laugh as well.

"Down the hall…. Third door on the left…" Tabane said, between fits of laughter. I ran off, hoping that I wouldn't piss myself on the way there.

**A FEW MINUTES LATER**

"That was too close for comfort…" I muttered as I walked back into the large lab/lounge/work room.

"You know there's a built in waist remover… right?" Tabane asked, still laughing a bit. Yui was nowhere to be seen.

"No, I didn't because you didn't tell me." I said, slightly angry that I almost pissed myself because she didn't tell me there was a toilet inside the damn suit, but I got over it and sat down on the couch.

"What are you doing?" Tabane asked as I started to nod off.

"Going to sleep. It was Friday when I got here and we don't have classes on the weekends at the academy. Plus since I have a room to myself, I won't be missed until later in the day, and ive postponed training for Ichika and the girls until I was sure I was back to a hundred percent." I explained, kicking off my shoes and adjusting a pillow. "Why, is that a problem?"

"N-No, it's just that I'm not use to having people over. And that couch isn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on." Tabane said, looking somewhat red.

"Eh, if you know as much about me as I know you do, then you know I've slept on worse." I retorted, slowly getting more and more tired. "Besides, it's not that uncomfortable. Beets sleeping outside on the ground."

"I suppose it does." Tabane laughed.

"Well, I'm going to fall asleep now. You should get some shut-eye too. Even the most knowledgeable scientists in history knew to get enough sleep." I said, already half asleep myself.

"I-I'll be fine." She stuttered before hearing a light snoring coming from the couch. Smiling lightly to herself, she walked over and looked down at me. Materializing a blanket out of nowhere, she laid it on me before brushing a few stray hairs on my face. "Goodnight James. Sleep well."

**THE NEXT MORNING**

I awoke with a jolt and my eyes shot open. I had just had one of the worst nightmares of my life, and had no clue why. Ever since I had joined the military, I hadn't had a single dream, good or bad. Now that I was attending the IS academy, it seemed I was dreaming more and more. And this dream had been the first nightmare.

Trying to sit up, I realized there was, not only a blanket on me, but also a person laying half on me, half off me while being completely covered by a separate blanket. And instead of being on the couch, we were laying on a bed where the couch had been. After the initial panic and confusion, I checked to be sure my clothes were on and let out a sigh when they were. Then, I nervously checked to see who this person was, only to find Tabane, fully dressed and still sleeping soundly.

"Phew," I sighed in relief that this wasn't as bad as it could have been. "That's one way to wake up I guess…"

'Good morning' I heard Yui say in my head. Looking down, I saw her crawl out of a gap between the blankets and me, yawning. I didn't know why, but it made me feel good to know that she had been "sleeping" with me. Aaaand that sounded wrong. Way to go brain.

'Good morning Yui. Did you sleep well?' I asked, receiving a small smile from the pixie girl.

'Well, I technically don't sleep, but have a function that more or less simulates sleep. In that case, yes, I slept extremely well.' She answered.

'Well, that means you get the night watch.' I joked and we both laughed. Then I slowly, so I wouldn't wake Tabane, moved myself from under her and sat on the edge of bed. Looking out the large garage-door like shudder thingy, I still had no clue what the hell to call that, I saw the sun just start to come up. If I was a more sentimental man, I would probably have thought about how lucky I was to have a virtual pixie in my head, a, while I hated to admit it, good looking girl in bed with me, and a beautiful sunrise to wake up to. But I'm not that sentimental, thanks to **THAT** incident back before I even told my uncle I wanted to join the military.

What's worse was the nightmare had brought back up memories that I didn't want to have right now, especially not with Yui in my head and no real effective way to block my thoughts from her. I just didn't want to tell her yet, or anyone for that matter. Not even Robert knew yet, though he knew something had happened. He didn't pry though, and I was grateful for that.

Yui had flew off somewhere again and Tabane had awoken from her sleep somewhat. I hadn't noticed until I felt her arms wrap around me and her head lay on my lap, yanking away from the bad memories. She snuggled into my lap and started to lightly snore again. Grateful for the distraction, I shook her slightly, trying to wake her up. Eventually, she opened her eyes.

"Hmmm? Five more minutes…" she said before shutting her eyes. I chuckled, thinking of a perfect way to mess with her.

"Come on Tabane," I said with a bit of urgency, shaking her again, "you need to hurry up! You're late for school!"

Upon hearing this, Tabane bolded strait up and started to panic, She quickly ran behind a curtained off area and clothing started flying everywhere. Seconds later, she was in a school girl uniform and panicking about not being able to find her bag. After watching her run around for a couple of minutes, franticly searching for a bag she wouldn't find, Yui flew back in and immediately started laughing with me. Eventually, Tabane heard our hysterical laughter and looked over. She looked confused until it dawned on her just what I had done.

"JAMES!" she yelled with a mixture of anger, embarrassment, and sadness. "That's not funny!"

"YOU'RE…. YOU'RE RIGHT! IT'S… HULARIOUS!" I said, gasping for breath from laughing so hard. Tabane's face kept getting redder and redder, though from embarrassment or anger I wasn't sure. I hoped it was the former instead of the later.

"Not funny…" Tabane pouted, confirming it was mostly embarrassment and not anger that caused her to redden up. I walked over to her, still laughing a bit, and hugged her which, unbeknown to me, caused her to get even redder.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you that much." I said, hugging her tightly. "Besides, it was Yui's idea."

"NO IT WASN'T!" Yui yelled over the PA system and in my head. "THERES NO WAY IT WAS MY IDEA!"

"Yui, you don't realize that I can hear your thoughts as well." I lied, mostly to my own amusement. If I was going to be stuck with pixie girl in my head, I wanted it to be a fun time for me as well. Upon hearing this, Yui reddened from embarrassment before I realized she **HAD** been thinking of doing just that. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Though I think we're going to be getting along great if you and I were actually thinking the same thing!"

Yui calmed down, mostly after running a few checks to make sure I was telling the truth. Tabane, however, was still upset despite calming down quite a bit after the hug I gave her and a few laughs at Yui's reaction to my teasing. It took her a while before she had completely calmed down.

"Well, now that THAT'S over, I think its time you left James. Not that im kicking you out, but we don't want people missing you." Tabane said. "Plus I was going to call your government and you probably shouldn't be here for that."

"True enough. So where's my ride?" I asked. "Probably wouldn't be a good idea to show off my IS by landing in the center of the academy, plus they would probably wonder where I got a new core and IS from. Id rather wait until you get the SGC thing sorted out and sent a message to Chifuyu before showing it off anyway."

"True enough. The helicopter that brought you here is waiting just outside." She said as we started to walk out. The helicopter had already started its engines and its rotors were spinning. How I had managed not to hear that worried me slightly, but this was Tabane's place after all. "Well, take care now. No more getting into fights that break your IS core! And remember to eat your vegetables!" Tabane said before I boarded the helicopter. Yui had chosen to cancel her appearance for now and was sitting quietly in my head. I sat down near the exit and waved goodbye to Tabane. She eagerly waved back until the door ramp closed. The helicopter then took off and started heading back to the IS academy. Already, I knew there were going to be big changes that had probably taken place in my short absence.

AFTER THE HELICOPTER RIDE

I walked the halls of the academy, not particularly going anywhere. It was getting close to mid-day and Yui had materialized as soon as we got off the helicopter and had asked for a tour, so I guess that's what I was doing, but really I was just wandering around. Yui would occasionally ask a question and I would mentally reply, though I accidentally spoke out loud once and caused a couple of girls to look at me like I was crazy.

'Hey J, what's that?' Yui asked. She had started calling me J for some reason, and I didn't mind it as long as it didn't spread. I walked over to a bulletin board and grabbed the flyer that Yui had pointed at.

"Semi-annual IS battle royal tournament. All pilots are welcome to join. Those with personal IS units will be in their own bracket so don't be afraid to sign up." I read out loud. "Well, at least their considerate to put the people without personal IS units in a separate bracket. It would be pointless otherwise since they would have more experience and would win regardless."

'You should join! It's scheduled for Monday and Tabane should tell the school about giving you an IS and Core by tonight at the latest.' Yui said. 'It would be a great way to get use to piloting the Mark II and gain some much needed combat practice with it.'

"Hmm. Maybe I will join." I said, making sure to sound like I was merely contemplating joining instead of talking to someone who wasn't but was there.

"Excuse me, can I see that?" a girl's voice said from beside me. Turning, I saw a girl with long, red hair dressed in the schools guy uniform. Odd, considering there were only two guys at the school, but not my place to judge.

"Sure. Thinking of joining up?" I asked, handing her the flyer.

"Yup. My aunt just got done repairing a prototype IS and said that I get to use it since I don't have my own unit. I probably won't get far, considering I have no experience with piloting besides the entrance test." She said. "You look kinda familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Not sure. I did become famous for being the second male IS pilot, but you look familiar as well. Probably did somewhere. Names James Reverend by the way." I said. 'Yui, can you really access my memories?'

'Yes, but I can't search for specific things. Its only when you're asleep that I can influence your mind to bring up memories as dreams.' Yui said sheepishly.

'So you saw it then? My nightmare last night?' I asked, somewhat nervous.

'No, I have to be "awake" so to speak when I do it. I was "asleep" last night so I didn't see anything.' She answered.

'Alright. Tonight, try and find this girl in my memories.' I thought.

"My names Casandra. Casandra Fraiser. I just transferred in today from America actually." She said. Why did that name sound so familiar though?

"Ahh. Good to have a fellow American here. It's good to know I'm not really alone in that regard. I'm sure there are other girls here from America, but I haven't met them yet." I said. "If you want, I can show you some pointers sometime on using your IS in combat."

'Yui, pull up the schedule for the training grounds please.' I thought

'On it. It looks like their open tomorrow actually.' Yui replied.

'Thanks.' I said.

"The training grounds are open tomorrow I think. We could have a sparring match if you want." I said to Cassandra. The conversation in my head taking less than a second.

"Really? That would be great!" she said, smiling brightly. "I'll see you there then! Oh, what time?"

'What times are available Yui?'

'The earliest is at 9:00 Am and it's free after that.'

'I wonder who's using it that early… all well.'

"How about 9:00 in the morning? That way we can shower after and have the rest of the day to go our separate ways." I asked.

"Sounds good! See you then!" she said and ran off. She was a bit strange, but it didn't really matter. I just wanted to remember who she was. It's not every day when you meet someone familiar and they think you're familiar as well.

'Well then, shall we go sign up?' I asked Yui

'Yup! Let's go J!' she replied happily.

'My word. I swear if some guys come in with nuralizers and I start thinking I'm some harem king, please kill me.' I thought.

'Why?' Yui asked.

'Movie reference. Look up MIB. You'll understand then.' I replied. A few minutes later, as I started looking for the place to sign up, Yui started laughing when she finally understood what I meant by the movie reference. She then went on to say that it's unlikely that an agency like that existed, which I countered with the SGC, and then switched to talk about the differences and similarities between me and agent J.

Eventually I found where to sign up. Apparently was the one who was handling the registrations for the tournament, and she was surprised when I signed up for not just the tournament, seeing as I just about got out of the infirmary, but the personal IS portion as well. I had Yui contact Tabane about the IS thing, and she said she had told Ms. Orimura about it, so I recited what she said to Ms. Orimura to Ms. Yamada. Didn't want our stories to not match up. That would raise numerous red flags and attention that I didn't want.

After that, I went to my room and grabbed the briefcase that was my IS. Apparently, it also doubled as an actual suitcase should it be opened and could change color and appearance as well, but only as a suitcase. With that in mind, I had Yui change its appearance to that of an actual leather briefcase so that people wouldn't be suspicious until it was too late and headed for the training grounds. There was a time slot open in a couple of minutes with a group of Personal IS users and I wanted to get use to the feel of the Mark II.

Upon reaching the training grounds, I discovered that it was actually Ichika, Cecilia, Rin, and Houki all training. Upon seeing me, they all decided to take a break and came down.

"Hey James. What brings you here?" Ichika said, giving me a fist bump. "And good to see you too Robert." I turned around to see Robert walking up behind me, now upset that he couldn't get the drop on me.

"Damn it Ichika, you just had to ruin it. This was probably the one time that I could have actually gotten the drop on James."

"Keep telling yourself that." I said, giving him a wink.

"Hey wait," Rin said. I really need to talk to her more, seeing as she was Ichika's childhood friend as well as Houki, and I and she got along great… most of the time. The rest of the time she was trying to kill me with her wooden sword that she could pull out of nowhere. "Didn't you lose your left eye after you woke up?"

"Yeah, I did. This a prototype prosthetic eye that lets me see." I said as the eye changed from its normal look to a metallic form. It hadn't done that before. I'll ask Yui about it later. "It can also do a couple other things like act as a computer, so I can type and send things in the air. It's like air typing in a way."

"That sounds rather useful. Is there a way to get that without losing an eye?" Cecilia asked.

"To my knowledge, no. I have a contact lense on my right eye that helps balance the view of it, but I think I need the actual eye to be able to process all of the information." I replied. Cecilia got a bit upset at that, but didn't look too down. No one wanted to actually lose an eye after all.

"I still think I had the drop on you." Robert complained.

"Not really. Yui told me you were there." I said before realizing exactly what I had said.

"Who?" everyone asked in unison.

"Yui, you might as well introduce yourself." I said, letting out a sigh. "Patch into the comm systems and talk to them directly if you would be so kind."

"Sure thing James!" came Yui's voice from the groups IS's and Roberts radio. "Though if you put on your IS, there's a holo-projector that could actually show me in your gauntlet."

"Oh, well I'll get suited up. In the meantime, talk to them a bit. Their all really nice, I promise."

"Sure thing J." Yui said. Everyone was utterly confused until Yui started talking to each of them individually, at the same time no less. Robert was the first to catch on that Yui was an AI, but everyone else was either too busy being confused, or watching me get into my IS.

I had walked out onto the field and threw my briefcase, it changing back into its silver/mirror color. I stepped down on it and the cylindrical tubes popped up and I put the armor on. At this point, everyone was staring at me in awe due to the way I was putting on the IS. Finally, the only thing left to deploy was the helmet, which quickly encased my head but left the front mask off so I could talk to everyone.

"Dude, where the hell did you get that!" Robert yelled, already freaking out at how awesome the whole process was. Even the girls were impressed at what they had just seen.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Well, Ichika and Houki might, but the rest of you, probably not." I said, making a mental to tell them what had ACTUALLY happened, and to tell Ms. Orimura as well. Yui also wrote the note down and saved it for later. Such a handy little girl she was. "Anyway, if you haven't guessed already, Yui is an AI. More specifically, she's the personality of the IS core I have." I said as I turned over my hand and activated the holo-projector. A second later, Yui was standing on my hand.

Cue girls going Awe

"AWE!" There we go. "SHE'S ADORABLE!" oh, didn't expect that part.

"Thank you…" she said, somewhat shyly through my suits speakers.

"She's a little shy, but once she gets to know you she'll be fine. Won't stop talking to me now." I teased, getting the reaction I wanted out of her. She puffed out her cheeks and her face got a light shade of red.

"I don't talk that much!" Yui said, clearly embarrassed. "I'm just curious is all!" she turned away from me and crossed her arms, pouting as she did so. Needless to say, the girls were all going crazy over how adorable she looked, even when pouting.

"How did you get her?" Houki asked.

"What can she do?" Cecilia asked.

"Why does she look like that?" Rin asked. "Not that she looks bad, I just want to know why you chose that appearance."

"Why do you have an AI like that at all?" Robert and Ichika both asked.

"Please stop the questions all at once. I need time to answer." I said. "Houki, Robert and Ichika, I can't really answer those questions yet. Ask me later, and I might be able to. Cecilia, I'll let her answer that question." As I said that, Yui started to answer via Cecilia's communication channel. "Rin, I didn't chose her appearance. When I met her she looked like this, so I didn't question it. I don't know if she can even change appearances or not.

"I can!" Yui said excitedly after finishing explaining to Cecilia. "Move your hand so that it's facing away from you."

"Alright." I said and did as she asked. Her hologram stayed the same size for a minute before she floated away from my hand and her appearance started to change. Instead of being a little pixie, her clothing changed to a pink sweater and a white skirt, and her features becoming more human like. She still looked like a young girl, but a human girl.

"OHHH SHES SO CUTE!" Cecilia said, having to visibly hold herself back from cuddling with the hologram.

"Just a size and clothing change? Not complaining, but it's just anti-climactic after how eager you sounded." Rin commented. "Still, you do look adorable."

"Yes, I've grown attached to this sort of appearance and don't really have the data to create a different appearance. Still, this body is technically older than my smaller pixie form. Tabane, my creator, rather liked the pixie form I came up with after I chose this little girl form during my struggle to achieve true consciousness."

"I'm interested in that, but right now I'm more interested in James armor. It's an IS right?" Robert asked. "I'm simply more familiar with the concept of an IS than an AI, so no offence intended.

"None taken. I've read a couple files on you and I'm glad you're one of James' friends. I'll give you the technical specifications later, so for now how about a demonstration, if J is willing to try." Yui said, looking at me. "He and I both haven't had much time with the unit and haven't even gone through a test flight."

"Well then how about we fight?" Cecilia asked. "We didn't get to hold our duel if I remember correctly, so this could settle it once and for all."

"You're on." I said, talking on the deadly serious tone that I had used to train them with the exception of Rin and Robert. The front visor dropped down for added affect and Yui's hologram dissolved before I lowered my arm. Cecilia grinned quite confidently and flew off to one end of the training grounds. I calmly walked over to my starting area, Yui scrambling inside of the HUD, adjusting it for combat.

Apparently the suit was being powered by an actual miniature arc reactor, meaning I had a little under 700 shield points. 666 to be exact. Not the most comforting number, but I guess it made sense, seeing as the only reason I got the suit was from nearly dying.

'A reminder of what could have happened I guess. Unless she had a reason for doing it?' I thought to myself, keeping it from Yui just to test myself from keeping her from hearing my thoughts. 'Alright Yui, let's do this.'

'Want a challenge?' Yui asked.

'No, not on a trial run. Maybe after I get use to the suit, or tomorrow during the training with Cassandra.' I told her.

'Awww no fun.' She said, pouting a bit. 'Well, at least your reasoning is sound. Alright, tomorrow then. Give her hell J!'

"Are you ready for a truly royal thrashing?" Cecilia taunted.

"Please, if Ichika could beat you without any combat experience, then this should be easy for a trained soldier/movie nut. Still gota see the recordings of that match, so I am also at a disadvantage at knowing what your unit is good at." I taunted back. "And I'll still win."

"Humph! Don't get to cocky!" Cecilia said. I had to restrain myself from laughing at that statement.

'Ohhhhh that's rich coming from her!' I thought.

'Why?' Yui asked.

'I'll tell you tonight. Or show you with my memories. Basically she was a stuck up bitch when I first met her.' I replied. Before Yui could comment, the buzzer went off signaling the start of the match. Cecilia immediately flew up, putting distance between us and taking out a rifle.

'Sniper huh? Alright. Let's close the gap then.' I thought.

I activated the thrusters on my unit and shot forward, going faster than expected and ending up hitting the shield dome of the stadium. I also lost a shield point in doing so. Not the best start id say. Cecilia's image appeared on the HUD as she opened a channel to me.

"What was that?" she teased.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I meant to do this!" I said as I sped towards her and landed a punch strait to her shields, sending her flying to the ground. Before she could get up, I started firing my repulsor gauntlets at her, though they didn't have the rapid fire I was hoping they would. Instead, I alternated between firing with my left and right hands to keep as much fire on her as possible. Suddenly, a barrage of blue laser bolts shot up from the dust cloud that I was firing at. I took a hit from not expecting that and killed the thrusters, dropping to the ground and executing a roll to kill off most of my momentum.

After skidding to a halt, I dodged left to avoid another barrage of lasers. The dust around Cecilia had dissipated, revealing her and four little drones hovering around her. As she fired at me again, so did the drones. Well, at least that solved where the extra fire was coming from. I started locking onto the bits as well as Cecilia with the Multi-Threat Removal System, henceforth known as MTRS because thinking that every time would be a MAJOR pain. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good lock on because I had to keep dodging her laser fire.

'J, first shift is available now.' Yui said as I dodged another barrage of lasers, this time getting hit by one of them and having my shields knocked down to 600 exactly. Those things packed a punch to them.

'First shift? You mean we've been using the default settings?' I asked, firing a few repulsor blasts at Cecilia, who didn't dodge for some reason.

'Well, this is our first fight together and I couldn't get any combat data from the Rouge since its Core was broken. So yeah, running on default settings. Though were ready to go to custom settings now that I've gathered enough data. Just say the word and we'll be safe for a couple seconds while we change.' Yui explained.

'Why does this feel like Déjà vu for some reason?'

'Because according to the recording I have of Ichika's battle, he had the same thing happen to him.'

'Well then let's not copy him. We'll shift after the battle instead. Is there any way you can lock on to those drones faster with the MTRS?'

'The what?' Yui asked.

'The MTRS. Multi-Target Removal System. It's an acronym.' I explained.

'OH! And yeah, I've been waiting for you to ask me to help out.'

'…'

'…'

"YOU WERE WAITING FOR ME TO ASK?" I shouted, completely ignoring the barrage of lasers that passed all around me. Apparently Cecilia wasn't expecting me to stop and instead fired at where I was going to be.

'Ok, no need to shout! I was busy collecting data so we could go to first shift!'

'Still could have told me sooner.' I said, getting a lock on all the drones and Cecilia. 'Though it doesn't matter now. Next time though, please help in any way you can.'

'Got it J!'

'Thanks. Now let's end this. I'm sick of dodging.' I said as the MTRS popped up from my shoulder and fired several rounds at the four drones and at Cecilia's shields. More specifically, right at her face. Combined with the shock of losing her drones, and being shot at in the face, she stumbled back in surprise.

"Alright, lets end this!" I yelled to Cecilia, who quickly composed herself and fired at me to the left, thinking I was going to dodge that way. Instead, I stood still as power began to divert itself to the chest piece.

'Please don't say that.' Yui begged, reading my thoughts

'Oh, I'm saying it!' I said, refusing to not say it.

"IM FIRIN ME LAZER! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!" I yelled as I fired the Unibeam strait at Cecilia, who couldn't have dodged even if she had time to react. The beam rapidly started to drain her shields, until there was an audible pop and the active shield came up. Upon her shields being removed, I immediately stopped the Unibeam so her IS wouldn't take any damage.

The whole training ground was dead silent from the shock of the attack I had just used. Cecilia was sitting on the ground, completely stunned at losing again. I walked over to her and offered my hand to help her up. She blushed slightly and took my hand, and I pulled her up with ease.

"That… That attack…" Cecilia stammered.

"THAT WAS AWSOME DUDE!" Ichika and Robert both shouted as the group from the stands ran over. Before they got close, however, a bright light surrounded me and blinded everyone for a couple seconds. As it slowly faded, everyone looked in awe of how my armor now looked.

Apparently Tabane decided to go with the actual briefcase armor as the look for the custom settings. I didn't mind the look, but I just felt like I was ripping off Marvel. The red and silver-gold paintjob just feeling a little too cheesy for me, but I could live with it. And apparently so could everyone else.

"Did you just now change from default to custom settings?" Robert asked, admiring the armor as he got closer, along with the rest of the group. Cecilia was shocked, and more importantly embarrassed, by the idea of being beaten by a default setting unit. AGAIN.

"Yeah. I was going to change mid fight if I needed to, but since Ichika apparently did that during his match I didn't want to copy him. Yui, does this mean we get any new toys to play with?" I asked.

"Sadly, no. And since we don't know what second and third shift look like, I can't answer any questions about that either." She replied, her voice somewhat sad.

"It's fine. We'll figure that out when we get there." I said, trying to cheer her up. "Besides, I have a feeling out… "Generous benefactor" will be providing us with more than a few upgrades before the tournament."

"Our generous benefact-OHHHHHH. Riiight! Yeah, knowing them, were going to have plenty of upgrades soon enough." Yui said, catching on to what I was trying to say. Didn't want everyone to know about Tabane giving me an IS just yet. Especially Houki, which would be disastrous if she found out. Everyone else was absolutely clueless as to what I was talking about, besides Robert who looked like he had a hunch as to what had happened.

"Well good for you two." Ichika's friend, why can't I remember her name… oh right, Rin said. Her stomach growled, along with Ichika's and Robert's. "I vote we call it a day and get some food."

"I second that vote!" Robert said, holding his stomach. "I haven't eaten all day, so I'm starving."

"I don't think there's a burger king around here anywhere, so to the cafeteria it is." I said, nudging Robert playfully. He landed on the ground before I realized I still had my IS on. "Whoops! My bad! I'll get out of this now." I apologized before the suit de-materialized around me and returned to the briefcase form.

'Yui, why did it just do that? I thought I had to take it off manually.' I asked.

'Oh, you have the option to do that still, but I figured that this way was much quicker. Knowing you, I'm guessing you're going to prefer the manual way on and off for dramatic effect.' Yui answered, a small grin appearing on her face as she tried to show off how well she knew me already, despite us spending only a day together.

'Well, you got the first part right, and the reasoning to boot. But for taking this thing off, ill happily go with the de-materialized method. It's a lot quicker and more efficient.'

'Darn. Well two out of three isn't so bad.' Yui said, somewhat disappointed at first, but regaining her normal happy-go-lucky attitude.

"Hey, the fact you got two out of three after less than a full day of knowing me is a really good start." I said, making sure Yui stayed happy. It wasn't until I noticed that everyone was staring at me that I realized I said that out loud. "What? I'm still getting use to talking to the voice in my head!"

"RIIIGHT…" Robert said with a smirk on his face. "Next thing you know, the same voice will tell you to kill everyone, or try to take over the world, or both! We don't know what she'll tell you to do!"

"Just so you know, I have coding to prevent me from thinking that, regardless of how much I want to." Yui said, appearing in front of Robert with a smile.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Yeah that's not creepy at all." Houki and Cecilia said together.

"I'm kidding! Why would I kill the first friends I've ever made?" Yui pouted. "Besides, I can't make J do anything, I have no ways of controlling him or altering things about him unless he gives me undeniable proof that he is allowing it."

"Which won't happen!" I quickly said. "No offence, but unless I'm on the verge of death, again, then I won't be giving you that permission."

"No! My plans for world domination!" Yui yelled sarcastically, causing Robert and I to laugh. Ichika found it slightly funny, but shut up when Houki and Rin glared at him. Cecilia looked visibly disturbed, but just kept walking instead of saying something.

The rest of the day went fairly smoothly. Yui and the girls eventually got along better, which took some effort from Yui seeing as they were all really creeped out by the discussion earlier about world domination. After a couple hours of hanging out with them, I said goodbye and headed to my room to catch up on homework from when I missed class. When I got there, however, I was very surprised to see Robert waiting for me.

"We need to talk." Was all he said.

**ALRIGHTY GUYS THAT'S CHAPTER 4!**

**James: Wow, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.**

**I know! Even im surprised by it. But it still feels off to me.**

**James: probably because you planned for more but didn't want to put out such a big chapter.**

**True, very true. I did intend for this to cover a lot more, but then it would have been too long. All well. MOVING ON, I decided to simply mention the new character in this chapter and get to her next time, so im not TECHNICALLY going against what is said at the beginning.**

**James: I don't think they really care… I know I don't.**

**Well, I think that covers just about everything! Oh yeah, I didn't intend for James to end up with Iron Man armor, I was just watching a Iron Man movie marathon and thought, hey, that would make a great armor for James! If you all don't think I should go with that, please let me know. Ill be more than happy to go with what I originally thought up for James instead. UNTIL NEXT TIME!**

**James: TAKE ME WITH YOU!**

**THAT'S IT! BACK TO THE PIT WITH YOU!**

**James: (Muffled screams of agony and terror)**


	5. Chapter 5

**HEY GUYS! IM BACK WITH CHAPTER 5! I promised to properly introduce Casandra Fraiser, so I hope that actually happens. There's no reason for it not to really, unless something (loud crashes in the background)**

**James: IT'S PAYBACK TIME BITCH!**

**NO, NO, NO! DON'T YOU DARE HIT ME WITH THA-OUF!**

**James: AND STAY DOWN! Now then, let me just drag the body… oh, he was writing. Hehehe, time to set some things right.**

**CHAPTER 5**

**SETTING THINGS RIGH**

**NOT HAPPENING!**

**James: BUT I HIT YOU WITH A GOLF CLUB! HOW ARE YOU STILL UP?**

**BECAUSE IM THE AUTHOR BITCH! NOW YOU WILL PAY!**

**James: OH GOD! NO! NOT THAT! (Screams of pure terror)**

**THAT'S RIGHT! THE SUPER PIT!**

**James: (unintelligible bouts of terror)**

**Now then, lets get on with this so I can get some aspirin. Damn he hits hard.**

**CHAPTER 5**

**Explanations and a duel?**

"What do you mean?" I asked, completely confused.

"You know damn well what I mean man. Where did you get the IS, how is your eye fixed, and no offence Yui but where the hell did you get a damn AI?" Robert demanded.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Yui yelled, popping up out of nowhere.

"I'm more concerned about how you're doing that right now…" I said, somewhat startled by her appearance.

"Not important J, and SHOULDN'T YOU BE DEFENDING ME SINCE IM A PART OF YOU?" Yui yelled, bringing me back to focus.

"Alright, alright, both of you calm down. Robert, before I answer anything I want you to apologize to Yui. I know you didn't mean to offend her, but regardless you did." I said.

"Fine. Yui, I didn't mean to offend you, but I'm sorry for doing just that." Robert apologized with a bow afterwards, which surprised me. "Now, James, will you please answer my question?" He questioned.

"Tabane." I said in a defeated sigh. "I got it all from Tabane Shinonono."

"YOU WHAT?" Robert exclaimed.

"You remember that strange stalker I told you about? The one who messaged me on Worlds? It turns out that it was Tabane." I explained.

"Why does that not even feel surprising?" Robert face palmed while Yui laughed at his reaction. "And it answers most of my questions. So why did she give it to you? And what is with Yui? I've never heard of an IS core who acts like her."

"That's because I'm special!" Yui said happily, completely forgetting Robert's insult earlier. "Most modern IS units interact through the operator's dreams after getting use to his or her thought process, decision making, and combat techniques. Tabane didn't intend for that to happen during the construction, but it was unavoidable. As of today, I am the only core to be able to actively interact with my operator outside of his dreams."

"Well I understood most of that. Still don't get why your eye is working normally though." Robert offhandedly said.

"That's because it's not an eye. It's Yui." I explained.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Wat"

"Didn't I explain most of this already at the stadium?" I muttered. "It's a prototype prosthetic eye that also happens to be an IS core. Something about actually being inside of me increases the compatibility between me and Yui."

"I told you it's because we have a higher sync rate since your part IS and I'm part human." Yui explained. "Were able to interact and strategize much faster than IS pilots who achieve third shift and become hybrids because of our direct connection to each other's cognitive processes."

"Starting to lose me there." Robert said, holding his head. "And I think I'm going to get a headache if I try to understand."

"BECAUSE WE SHARE A BODY WE CAN FIGHT BETER AND REACT FASTER." Yui yelled at Robert, causing him to fall backwards in his chair. "Oups! Sorry!" she said sheepishly.

"Ughh, its fine. Defiantly going to need an aspirin before bed though." He groaned.

"Well, any other questions?" I asked as I pulled Robert back up.

"Just one. Why the hell is Tabane helping you? Or us? Or you two?" We both looked at Yui, who shrugged. "Did you offer her anything that would peek her interest or something?" Robert continued.

"Well she's the one who contacted me at first." I mentioned. "Other than that I told her about the Starg-"

"WHY ARE YOU TELLING HIM THAT!?" Yui yelled.

"Because he already knows about it? Oh right! Yui, Robert here was the engineer who was with me when I first activated an IS at the Mt. Cheyenne military complex where the Stargate is located." I explained. "He knows about the program so its fine to tell him. Just no one else." At least for now.

"Wait, you told Tabane about the Stargate program?" Robert asked, and upon receiving nods of approval from me and Yui, he continued. "What's the cover story?"

"That I only hinted at it, but it was the program where the advanced tech in Rouge came from. In return for the VERY LITTLE information I gave her, she gave me a custom IS on the condition that she got to design it and reserved the right to revoke it should I have just wasted her time." I told him. "In reality, I told her everything and were probably going to be seeing her a lot in the coming months."

"Not sure if that's a blessing or a curse." Robert deadpanned.

"You haven't met her, so I don't want to hear it from you yet. I'd only let Ichika, Houki, or Chi-Chan complain. Yui goes without saying." I added when Yui looked upset.

"Who?" Robert asked.

"Oh, right! Tabane calls Ms. Orimura Chi-Chan as a pet name. I guess I unconsciously just pick it up." I explained.

"Alright! More to tease her with! Anyway, I can't wait to examine your IS. Something created by the great Tabane should be a marvel to look at." Robert said while he stifled a yawn. "Got any plans for tomorrow?"

"Yeah, helping some girl with her IS. Casandra Fraiser." I said offhandedly. "After that it's probably getting use to the Mark II, or is it the Mark V now that it's in first shift?"

"Eh, take your pick. It's got the armaments of the Mark II but the appearance and design of the Mark V. Both would be correct." Yui shrugged.

"Wait, Casandra Fraiser?" Robert asked. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"It's familiar to you too?" I asked, surprised that he thought the name was familiar as well. "She thought I looked familiar as well. I thought it was just me being one of the first male IS pilots but apparently not."

"You said you were going to be training with her tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yeah. What time was that at again Yui?" I asked.

"It's at 9:00. And don't think that I'm going to be your personal day planner J. I'll help you but only if you meet me half way." She answered.

"I just needed clarification!" I wined. She turned and looked at me sternly. Wait, was that demonic aura emanating off of her? How the hell is she doing that?

"We both know that's crap, and I won't tell you how I'm doing it." She read my mind. Note to self, get better mental barriers. Why do I have a feeling things are going to get weird with someone reading my mind? "I don't know." DAMN IT! KNOCK IT OFF YUI! "Awww, no fun!"

"What did I just miss?" Robert asked.

"NOTHING!" Yui and I said together.

"Alright…. I think I'll just see you tomorrow during the training session…" Robert muttered as he slowly crept out of the room. Yui and I were left standing in my room, alone. Is this awkward? Nah, this can't be awkward. It's just a High school military member, alone with a young girl who just so happened to be an AI.

"It's awkward."

"Do you really have to read my mind?"

"No, but its fun to make you squirm a bit. My tests say it keeps you on your toes more."

"Wonderful… Can you go to sleep for a bit? I gota take a shower and I'd rather not have you in my head while I wash…"

"Bathrooms are automatic off-limits for me, your fine."

"Oh, and here I was worried that you might have watched me go to the bathroom at Tabane's." I said as I walked to the bathroom. Apparently my hair had grown from when I last checked, as I looked in the mirror. Long enough for me to think about needing a haircut. All well, time for a blissful shower in absolute privacy. Around half way through, the worst thing possible could have happened to me. In more ways than one.

"Incoming call J!" Yui said as she appeared, not only in the shower with me, but also adjusting her avatar so that it looked like she was actually wet from the water.

"Wait! What are you doing in here? And who's calling?" I panicked.

"Tabane's calling silly! That means I can do what I want within reason to tell you! Now here she is!" Yui said as a screen appeared, with none other than Tabane's face pressed right up against it.

"HEY THERE J-KUN! ITS YOUR FAVORITE GENIUS, TABANE!" she greeted, rather loudly I might add.

"WHY ARE YOU CALLING WHILE IM IN THE SHOWER?! AND WHY DID YOU LET YUI HAVE BATHROOM ACCESS TO SIMPLY LET ME KNOW YOUR CALLING?!" I yelled.

"Hi Tabane-San!" Yui said, jumping onto me and showing herself on screen.

"Hi Yui-Chan! I hope you're getting along with J!" Tabane said, completely ignoring my complaints.

"HEY! DON'T IGNORE ME! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!" I yelled. Great, my neighbors are probably all going crazy with my yelling, or insanely curious as to who I'm talking to while in the shower.

"I just wanted to let you know that I signed on with that group you mentioned! I know you couldn't say much, BUT THIS PLACE IS AWSOME! THERES SO MUCH ROOM OFF WORLD FOR ME TO BLOW STUFF UP!" she yelled, clearly over excited. Suddenly I realized that if she was saying what our cover story was, someone else had to be… oh no.

"Tabane! Don't use the gate just to make a call!" someone's voice said from the screen.

"I'm not! I just used it to ESTABLISH the call! Once it was up I shut down the gate!"

"How do you even… WHO ARE YOU CALLING FROM A DIFFERENT PLANNET ANYWAY?!"

"Tabane… Please don't do what I think you're goin-" I tried to say.

"Well James, obviously! I was checking up on him and the IS I gave him!" Why did she say it like it was the most obvious thing in the world?

"Who?" the voice said before the screen shook and I saw the face of one, particularly gruff colonel. One I knew too well from MANY incidents that involved Robert and him butting heads.

"JAMES! WHY ARE YOU CALLING TABANE WHILE SHE'S WORKING! AND IN THE SHOWER NO LESS? HAVE SOME DECENCY!" Jack O'neill yelled into the microphone.

"SIR SHE CALLED ME! NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! AND KEEP IT QUIET, THE WALLS ARE THINNER HERE THAN I LIKE!" I hissed at him.

"Who's that with you?" he asked, noticing Yui on screen. "You're not into little kids, are you? You better not go after Casandra. Doc would get pissed at you for that!"

"Wait, who? And this is Yui, my IS core's personality. She isn't even physically here, and even if I wanted to, WHICH I DON'T, I couldn't do anything!" I explained.

"Uh-huh. Sure. Anyway I figure I should fill you in since you stopped checking in with your CIA messenger buddy. You remember Casandra Fraiser? Doc Fraiser's adopted daughter?"

"I thought she looked familiar. WAIT, LITTLE CASSANDRA CAN PILOT AN IS?" I almost yelled.

"Yeah. Something about the Naquadah in her body lets her operate an IS better than a normal pilot. I don't know the details, but I think Carter here could fill you in if you want." Jack said.

"**NO! PLEASE NO!** I understand just fine, I don't want ANYONE ELSE SEEING ME IN THE SHOWER PLEASE!" I exclaimed. "Actually, CAN YOU CALL ME BACK AFTER MY SHOWER? OR WAIT A MINUTE SO I CAN GET OUT?"

"I guess. I have no clue how to operate this damn thing. Hey Tabane," Jack said, turning his head to find Tabane, and apparently didn't like what he was seeing, "HEY! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TOUCHING THINGS! Now get over her! How do I put this damn thing on hold so he can get out of the shower?" There was some mumbles from the line, probably Tabane telling Jack what to do, then the screen froze. I dismissed it and told Yui to leave so I could get dressed. I quickly put my clothes back on, walked over to my desk, and brought back up the screen with a HEAVY sigh.

"Hey James!" Another familiar face said, appearing on screen.

"Hey Sam. How's Jack dealing with Tabane?" I asked.

"I think you know that already." She answered with a laugh. Jack was well known for not enjoying the company of most scientists unless they proved themselves capable of handling themselves in a fight. Sadly, said fights were **FAR** too common when it came to SG-1's team. It was almost like the universe had it out to get them **ALMOST EVERY TIME** they stepped through the gate.

"Strange, I thought he would have gotten along with her. Then again, she does act like an energetic kid."

"You can say that again. She basically has touched EVERYTHING since we got here." Carter said with a sigh. "Anyway I heard you and Casandra met up. Treat her right James, or else!"

"Will you please not put that image in my head? I'd rather not do anything to the little girl who always popped into maintenance to hang out. She's like a little sister ok?"

"Whatever you say." Carter said with a smirk and a playful wink. "Well, Tabane wants to talk again, but keep it short. We may be at the Alpha sight, but the last thing we need is for something to happen."

"Rodger that." I said and Carter's face disappeared from the screen. Seconds later, Tabane's face was pressed up against the screen like she was trying to come through it, and I was honestly surprised when she didn't.

"YAY! I GET TO TALK TO JAMES AGAIN!" she yelled.

"Tabane what did you want? I need to finish my shower and get to bed."

"I wanted to talk to you about some new upgrades to your IS obviously!" Right… because you made it SO obvious. "So what were you thinking? A high powered rail gun? Some improved shields? The sky's the limit for upgrades from what I've seen here!"

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself at least." I muttered, before I came up with a GREAT idea to punish Tabane **AND** annoy Jack some more. "Hey Tabane, how about a challenge?"

"What type of challenge?" she asked, immediately perked up by the thought.

"Well, I have a training session tomorrow at 9:00 in the morning, so how about you get something to me by then, if you can manage it that is?" I said with a smirk.

"Deal, but if I do, you have to do any one thing I say!" she countered.

"Fine. I'll be waiting Tabane! Goodnight." I said and the screen went blank before disappearing.

"You know she's going to do it." Yui said, popping up on the desk in her little, what was that technically? A pixie or a fairy? Regardless she was her smaller self, sitting on the edge of the computer the school provided with her legs dangling off.

"Yeah, I know. But now she's going to be in a frenzy to get it done which will be her punishment for calling me in the shower. Plus it's fun to annoy Jack and Tabane is the perfect weapon to do that." I said with a small laugh. "Now then, miss LIED ABOUT BATHROOM PRIVACY…" Yui gulped.

"I-I didn't really lie about that! I'm just programed to be able to go in when theirs a call from Tabane coming in!" Yui explained, getting up and backing behind the computer screen slowly. I quickly reached out and grabbed her, making sure not to hurt her. And brought my face closer to hers.

"But you didn't have to answer the call for me, or get in the shower as well!" I said with an evil smile.

"NO! NOT THAT! PLEASE!" Yui yelled, reading my mind at what I was going to do.

"Next time I won't be as generous Yui." I said, letting her go. "Now then, IM GOING TO FINISH MY SHOWER IN PEACE PLEA-" A knock on the door cut me off.

"…"

"…"

"Someone's going to die." I muttered as I walked to the door and threw it open. On the other side was a shocked and startled Cecilia.

"Uh, h-hello James… I-I mean good evening." She stammered, trying to recompose herself.

"Oh. Hey Cecilia. Sorry about that, I've had a rough night." I explained.

"T-That's part of why I came over." I gave her a confused look. "You do realize I room right next to you right?"

"OHHHHH, YOU'RE IN TROUBLE NOW!" Yui yelled from inside the room.

'THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GOING IN THE JAR!' I thought/yelled at her.

'ILL BE GOOD I PROMISE!'

"Alright. Come on in and tell me what you heard." I sighed, moving out of the way so that Cecilia could enter. She blushed at the thought of going into my room, then hurried in when I gave her a look that I wasn't particularly in the mood to consider "proper edict." She took a seat at one of the desks and I flopped onto my bed, the only one that looked used at all.

"You don't have a roommate?" Cecilia asked, looking at the bed that was unused.

"Nope. Ichika was in here at first, but something happened to the rooming system and he ended up with Houki. Been on my own in here ever since."

"Robert doesn't sleep in the dorms?"

"Nope. He's technically maintenance staff, so he sleeps with the other staff members." I explained.

"Oh… OH!" she said, realizing it was just going to be the two of us in the room. Again, she suppressed her thoughts, realizing it wasn't in the mood to be thinking of pulling anything.

"So anyway," I said, sitting up and moving to the edge of my bed, "What did you hear? I need to know because some of it was classified, but mainly so that I don't have to fill you in as much."

"W-Well, I only started listening when I heard a male voice ask why there was a young girl in the shower with you…" Cecilia said nervously.

"That was Yui in there with me, WHO NEEDS TO GO INTO THE PUNISHMENT JAR FOR BARGING IN!" I said, getting up and grabbing Yui who had been hiding behind a lamp.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" Yui yelled as I opened up a cupboard and took out a jar with a twist lid, plopped her in it, and twisted the lid back on. I then set the jar on my nightstand and turned back to Cecilia, who looked very confused and alarmed.

"She told me she wasn't allowed to go in the bathroom, then appeared saying I had a call, which she answered while I was still in the shower. Instead of leaving, however, she not only stayed, but changed her appearance so that it looked like she was showering with me." I explained to her, as calmly as I could.

"So you didn't invite her into your shower?" she asked.

"NO! Why would I do that? Not only is she an AI, but her appearance is that of a young girl!"

"Oh good. And here I was thinking I might have had to report you to the academy." Cecilia said with a sigh.

"So what else did you hear?"

"Well there was that little bit about a girl named Casandra, and then about Tabane touching something she shouldn't have. After that it got quiet until you started talking to someone named Sam for a bit and then talked to Tabane about your IS." Cecilia said, looking like she was actually trying to remember what she had heard. "Is this Tabane the same one that I'm thinking of?"

"Sadly, yes. Tabane Shinonono. What I'm about to tell you is classified by the US government, ok?" At Cecilia's nod I continued. "It turns out that my cyber stalker was actually her the whole time and that she was curious about me being able to pilot an IS. Understandable, since there's only Ichika and I who can, and she created the IS. Anyway, after my incident where I lost my eye, she contacted me and asked me to come see her. She questioned me on my IS, how I discovered I could pilot one, question after question until she asked about a program that I had been a part of before coming here."

"What program?" Cecilia asked.

"Sadly, that is even more classified." I told her. "But it's where my first IS, the Rouge, was developed."

"What did it have to do with a… what was the word." Cecilia said, trying to think again. "Ah, yes! What's a Stargate?"

"…"

"What? Was it something I said?"

"I never said that word, nor did anyone who was talking to me on the call." I said, getting very serious. "Where. Did. You. Hear. That."

"I-I-I" She stammered before there was a small crash. We both looked over and saw the jar I put Yui in on the ground, broken.

"J, that was mean!" Yui pouted. "And besides, no one on the call said that, but you and Robert did!"

"Which means…" I turned and looked at Cecilia seriously again. She looked visibly nervous and gulped. "I need to make these walls soundproof, or talk quieter in here." Cecilia let out a dramatic sigh.

"S-So what is it? The Stargate?" she asked.

"I can't tell you. Not yet anyway. No offence, but other than Tabane, I'll probably only tell Ichika. At least until I get to know people better."

"Why Ichika?" Yui and Cecilia both asked.

"Because it involves a dream of his. One that could easily be fulfilled if I told him about it." I muttered, just loud enough for the two of them to hear me. "Anyway, I believe I was telling you about Tabane before we got sidetracked."

"Oh right! Sorry." Cecilia apologized.

"It's fine. Anyway yes, I told Tabane about the Stargate Program, which is classified so you need to never mention it to anyone, ok?" she nodded. "Good. In return for some information, since I couldn't tell her everything about a classified program, she gave me a new IS, core and all. It's actually right here" I said as I pointed to my eye.

"Your eye?" she asked.

"Yup. It's a prototype eye that also doubles as an IS core. The only downside has been losing my privacy to a certain someone!"

"I told you I didn't technically lie about that!"

"Now then, it's getting late and I need to finish my shower. Remember Cecilia," I said as I led her to the door, "Tell no one."

"I won't. You can count on me James!" she said confidently.

"Alright. Well goodnight Cecilia. Sleep well."

"You too!" she said before going into her room.

Finally, I was alone (with the exception of the privacy invading Pixie/Fairy) and able to take my shower. This time, I was completely un-interrupted and, upon emerging from said shower, felt very relieved.

Yui had changed back to her larger form, and I still didn't know how she was appearing like that but ill save that for another time, and was laying on the other bed. There were a few holograms floating above her as she read them, but was otherwise quiet.

"Hey Yui, can you send a message for me?" I asked as I flopped back down on my bed.

"Sure, who to?" she said, not looking over from what she was doing.

"Tabane. Tell her that this is separate from our deal. Basically id like it if she could have someone come and DISCRETLY soundproof the room." I said as I knocked on the wall above my bed and heard a muffled yelp from the other side. "Cecilia, go to bed and stop listening in!"

"Sorry! This is where my wardrobe is!" she replied, her voice muffled through the wall.

"Fine. Just get to bed." I said as my eyes started to close.

'She said she'll have it done by next week at the latest.' Yui whispered in my head as I slowly fell asleep.

'Thank Yui. Goodnight.'

I didn't hear her reply if she did, because I passed out then and there.

**THE NEXT MORNING**

I awoke with a yawn as the sun's rays came through the window. Their warmth slowly warming my skin, but I could tell they were getting weaker. Fall was approaching and I couldn't help but wonder how that would look here in Japan compared to America. I rolled over to discover Yui fast asleep, only in my bed instead of the other. A soft knock came from the door and I got up, making sure not to wake Yui. I walked over to the door and opened it, only to discover Chifuyu standing in the hallway looking slightly annoyed.

"Morning Chi-Chan." I said with a smile, only to receive a much harder than normal clipboard hit to the head. Where did that come from? She didn't have a clipboard a second ago!

"How do you know that!" she hissed.

"Do you really have to ask?" I replied, moving my hands to the top of my head and simulated bunny ears.

"I should have figured. Just please don't let that friend of yours sta-"

"Too late. Sorry." Another clipboard attack. I'm seriously glad that Yui set up the shields to always be on. It's saving me an early morning headache. "Anyway, what do I owe this enjoyable visit? It's too early for a social call."

"Two things. The first being a complaint about noise from last night." She said, looking very upset at me.

"Not my fault. Tabane called while I was in the shower, and Yui answered.

"Yui?"

"Oh right, you two haven't been introduced." I said as I motioned her to come in. she let out a small gasp when she saw Yui asleep on my bed. "This is Yui. She's my IS core's personality. Don't ask why she's visible, and touchable for that matter, I still have yet to figure that out myself."

"Well, well, well. Tabane's pet project has finally seen light." She muttered. I looked at her and saw, appreciation I guess. Maybe it was satisfaction. It was hard to read her facial expression. Or lack thereof besides anger and annoyance.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I knew Tabane had something special when she created the IS." She explained quietly. "But it always felt like it was missing something. A true connection and friendship to the core's personality. We teach that the IS is a pilots partner, but I've tried to teach that in a literal sense because I knew something was missing. But I guess she's finally gotten it right."

"Actually Yui was the first." I said, receiving a confused look. "Yui's core was the first one that Tabane created."

"No, that's Ichika's core. It's registered as Core 001." She argued.

"It is. But Yui's Core number is 000." I countered. "Go ahead and call Tabane for confirmation if you have to." I walked over to Yui, who had stirred enough to wake up. "Morning sleepy head." I said as I ruffled her hair.

"Jjjjjjjjj!" she wined (Note: that sounds like someone stretching out the letter J). "Now my hair's all messed up!"

"You can just change it back." I countered, causing her to puff her cheeks and pout. "Anyway, we have a visitor."

"Who?" she asked and I leaned over so she could see. "CHI-CHAN!" Yui yelled as she jumped out of bed and tried to hug Chifuyu, only to get stopped by Chifuyu's hand.

"Well, I can tell you take after Tabane. Too much if you ask me." Chifuyu said in a sigh. "Still, it's good to finally meet Tabane's pet project. Yui was it?"

"Yup!" Yui answered happily, changing to her Pixie form and walking up Chifuyu's arm to sit on her shoulder. "IS core for the Mark II or V."

"So you're the reason I got so many noise complaints last night." Chifuyu said with a, wait, HOLY SHIT DID SHE JUST SMILE? I didn't think she was capable of any emotions besides annoyance and anger!

"Ummmmm, maybe…" Yui said, getting ready to disappear if she needed to.

"I'll let it slide this time, but be aware that if it happens again, I WILL administer a punishment, and it won't be only you." Chifuyu said, turning to look at me. "As her pilot and partner, you will have to take responsibility for her actions as well."

"Great. It like boot camp all over again." I said with a smile. "Don't worry, after a week, I don't think you'll be hearing a peep out of this room."

"Very well. Now, as to the second reason I came here, there's a package waiting for you in the maintenance bay for you. You'll know it when you see it. And next time don't have things delivered this early in the morning." She said as she turned to leave.

"Right… Anyway thanks for letting us know." I said before she shut the door, nearly getting Yui's wings stuck as she quickly flew back in.

"So, shall we go see what's in the package?" Yui asked excitedly.

"Nope. First off we eat. I'm starving." I stated.

"No surprise there, you didn't eat dinner."

"Not my fault, I wasn't hungry and then I never got the chance to grab a snack due to your antics and having to explain to damn near everyone."

"Right… Sorry?" Yui apologized as we walked out the door, heading to the cafeteria. Yui had decided to remain in her Pixie form and rode on my shoulder the whole way. Unfortunately, there were some other early risers this morning mingling in the hallway, and the chorus of "AWW's" only woke more people up to come see. Before I knew it, there was a mob of girls chasing me and Yui to the cafeteria, each one eager to either; eat with me, try to ask me out, or cuddle Yui to death. None of those were my preferable options, so as soon as I got to the cafeteria, I grabbed everything I would need to make my own meal and threw down some money before running off again, leaving the girls chasing me no time to know where I went.

"That was… too… close…" I said between pants. What, just because I can run a long time doesn't mean I don't get tired from sprinting!

"Why did… we have… to… run again?" Yui said, having fallen off early on and flew alongside me.

"Fangirls… evil…" was all I said.

"Rough morning eh?" a voice came echoing down the hall. We had made it to the maintenance bay, which was normally locked down to maintenance personal and third year pilots, but because of my background in engineering and the package that was delivered, I had been granted access whenever I needed in.

"Shut it… you're not the one getting chased are you?" I told Robert, who walked up to us.

"Yup, that's why I do the chasing instead." He said with a smirk. I gave him a one finger salute in response. "So, I take it you're here about that package that was, oh so rudely delivered?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, almost scared of the answer.

"Follow me." He said. I left the ingredients I had taken from the café in my IS holding pen, which felt ridiculously large compared to most IS pens, and followed Robert with Yui landing on my head and collapsing. We rounded a couple bends before coming upon the delivery area, where normally trucks with various parts would be parked as their cargo was offloaded by robotic forklifts. At least, that's what a normal delivery was like.

This one wasn't normal at all.

"How did she even… Never mind. I'm too scared to want to know how she did that." I said, looking at the room's current state.

"This is overkill, even for Tabane…" Yui commented "She must not have slept at all to get this to happen."

"Wait, so you two were EXPECTING this to happen?!" Robert looked at us, his expression clearly shocked.

"Well not this! I thought it would have been much smaller, and only one!" I said, looking out over the messy room.

That's being a bit generous even, this place was trashed. Tabane, in all her glory, had fulfilled her end of the challenge, and then promptly surpassed it. While I had been on her island base, I had seen several carrot like pods that looked like they were to be shot out of something as a method of delivery. What I HADENT seen, were the larger ones, and just how many she had.

Needless to say, the delivery room was all but destroyed as giant metal carrots rained down from the sky, breaking through the roof in several areas, and blocking off any access for regular trucks. The biggest one looked like it would fit three full sized tanks staked on top of each other, while the smallest one would fit a person.

"If I can say one thing, it's this…" I muttered, causing both Yui and Robert to look at me in confusion.

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR THE DAMAGES!" I yelled, completely terrified of how much rebuilding this place would cost. "MY SALLARY ISNT BIG ENOUGH FOR ME TO PAY ALL OF THIS IN MY LIFETIME!"

Suddenly, the carrots started to open, which startled Robert and Yui. I was too busy weeping on the floor to notice that, in order to open, the doors on these things shot off at high speeds, instead of just sliding open like ANYONE NORMAL WOULD DESIGN, **FOR THEIR CARROT DROP POD DELIVERY SYSTEM, ****THAT DESTROYED A DELIVERY ROOM!** But no, these doors had to SHOOT OFF AND BREAK MORE STUFF, causing whoever was expecting the delivery to almost have a HEART ATTACK!

Then, there was movement from one of the pods.

A robot, looking like Exo from the new game Destiny, stepped out and walked over to us. It stood there for a moment as other robots started to come out of the smaller, person sized pods and start to unload the cargo that had been in the larger pods.

"Which one of you are James?" the robot asked.

"WHY ME?! WHYYYYYYY" I walled.

"He is…" Yui and Robert both said, looking rather embarrassed by my display of pure sorrow and dread.

"Um… Well can you two tell him that, once were done unloading, we'll be repairing the damage befo-"

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOUUUUUU!" I shouted, hugging the leg of the robot tightly. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW GRATEFUL I AM TO YOU ALL!"

"Right… I'm going to get back to work now…" the robot said, shaking me off its leg and walking off.

"Wow. You got really lucky there dude." Robert teased.

"You don't have to tell me that! I know that better than anyone!" I said as tears of joy ran down my face.

"Kill the water works man, it's almost like you're in some cheesy anime." He said.

"We are…" Yui mumbled.

"What was that Yui?" Robert and I both asked.

"NOTHING!"

"Well, I guess there's nothing else to do here until the cargo's unloaded. Shall we go cook some food while we wait?"

"Where are we cooking?" Robert asked.

A FEW MINUTES LATER

"I don't even want to know what your thought process was to manage coming up with this." Robert muttered as he sat in a chair in my IS maintenance pen.

"Don't question genus!" Yui and I said simultaneously. "Besides, it beats being chased by rabid fangirls if we head back to the cafeteria."

"…Fair enough."

"I thought so." I said as I continued cooking on the sheet of metal being held up by my IS. It really was a genus idea that me and Yui had come up with while running earlier. We were using the repulsor gauntlets to warm up the metal so it acted like a giant frying pan, though it did mean we had to lower the output of them so it didn't blast a hole through the metal. Right now, I was cooking pancakes and bacon. Yui and I didn't grab that much else, seeing as there was a large crowd behind us and there wasn't much time.

"Still, it smells great. When's it gona be ready?" Yui asked excitedly.

"Can you even eat?" Robert asked before being smacked by her. "Ok, how are you doing that?"

"Save it for another time, foods done!" I interrupted, handing a plate to Robert and Yui. "There's syrup packets in that plastic bag, as well as some butter." I said before digging in. Ahh, pancakes. The only thing that could make these better would be peanut butter and strawberries. Uncle Fisher use to enjoy gravy on his pancakes, and not once did it seem appealing to me, despite his insistent asking if I wanted to try it.

We ate in relative silence before the same robot that had talked to me earlier came in. "The cargo is unloaded and the repairs are complete. Tabane sends her regards and would like to remind you that you lost your bet." It said before walking away.

"THANK YOU!" I shouted after it before finishing up my food in record time.

"Dang you finish that quickly." Robert commented.

"I think it might be because I'm sharing my body with Yui. Higher metabolism to make up for the increased energy or something I think." I said, and with Yui not commenting, Robert and I took it that I was right. I waited for the two of them to finish eating, but Yui took her time simply because this was her first time eating food, a fact that surprised both me and Robert and prompted us to let her be while Robert and I took off.

"Seriously man," Robert said as we walked back to the delivery room, "how the hell is she doing that? Just being both real and artificial at the same time?"

"I have no clue dude, but I won't ask her." I replied.

"Why not?" Robert demanded to know.

"Because I don't want to push her. I'll just let her tell me when she feels like telling me." I said with a shrug. "Besides, it's not like it matters that much since she can always just go back to being an AI at any moment."

"How can you be so uncaring about this?" Robert questioned.

"Because I share my head with her, and don't think of her as an AI." I stated. "She's more like a friend and partner than a computer to me."

"You're crazy man."

"Dude, it's just like what they teach in class! The IS has a personality of its own, so they tell us to treat it like our partner instead of a machine!"

"Just saying, next to no one buys that crap."

"Alright, then let's ask Cecilia and Rin when we get a chance. They'll probably think like I do since they have personal IS's also." I said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's see what we got now, ok?" Robert said with a dismissive wave of his hand as we arrived in the newly rebuilt delivery room.

"Damn they sure know how fix things. It doesn't even look like the place was damaged." I commented as Robert went over to one of the crates and opened it. "Whadya got for me bro?"

"Looks like armor panels to swap out on your IS. Probably made the same way as the Rouge's armor was, and it looks like the same metals were used as well." Robert said, getting into his one track mind. "Got a couple new weapons, but nothing that looks like its stays in your suit. These are deployable like before-OH! Look at this beast!"

When I walked over to Robert, he pulled out a small section that looked like it when where my MTRS shoulder weapon went, only this thing looked a lot more complex. Robert set it down on a crate and pulled out a tablet, and after a few seconds it came to life, raising up and changing from its small shape to that of a shoulder mounted cannon.

"Damn! This looks like it could do some damage! What the hell is it?" I asked, feeling like a kid in a candy shop.

"It's a shoulder mounted grenade launcher." Robert said. "However, this function changes it to a rail-gun grenade launcher. Normally it looks like this when deployed." A few clicks on the tablet and it started to shrink down, growing bigger toward the back.

"Ok, now I can see how it would be a grenade launcher. Sorta." I commented. "Guess I was just expecting something like a 40mm MGL."

"These grenades are smaller, but pack a much bigger punch. Their filled with a water-Naquadah mixture with an alkaline igniter. These babies are as strong as a tank round at close range." Robert explained.

"WHY THE HELL WOULD SHE BUILD SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" I questioned/yelled. "And how did she even have the time?! You know what, I don't want to know anymore. I gota get ready for my training session at 9:00."

"Alright. I'll keep going through this stuff and sort it out for after. Might even be able to get some of it online for you to use during the match." Robert said, shifting through another box already.

"Alright, I'll see you later!" I said, running off to the male locker rooms to get changed. I quickly sent Yui a mental message, asking her to bring the IS over, seeing as the practice would be starting soon. She sighed and was disappointed that she couldn't keep eating, but I promised her to either make or buy something better for her later, and she quickly perked back up.

When I got to the locker rooms, I realized that they were quite new. When I had walked to the training grounds yesterday I had just worn my regular clothes instead of heading to the lockers to change, which had made the suit feel really tight. This time I'd be wearing my IS clothes, which consisted of a form fitting top that didn't reveal my midsection like Ichika's did, and form fitting pants that went down to my knees. Both were a light grey, with a black trim around the outside of it.

The only problem was, since they were form fitting, it was REALLY hard to put them on correctly without it feeling uncomfortable.

But, after several minutes of adjusting, I finally felt comfortable and ran out onto the IS launch platform, where Yui and a TV with Casandra's face were waiting.

"Took your time I see." Casandra said, teasing me slightly.

"Oh come on, these things are form fitting! Do you know how hard it is to make sure my little friend down there doesn't get squished or feel pain?" I asked before realizing just what I had steered the topic towards. "Umm, let's just forget I said that… And please don't mention it to Doc Frasier either. I don't want her coming over and killing me."

"Yeah, let's just… Wait, you know my mom?" Casandra asked, her eyes growing with surprise.

"I also know that you're not from around here, if you catch my drift. I'd rather not say this over an open channel." I said, as I invited her to a private channel that Yui had set up to be un-hackable. "There, now before we begin, let me say that yes, I know your mom, Jack, Sam, Daniel, AND Teill'k the Jaffa. I also know that you're not from this planet."

"How do you know this?" Casandra asked, her voice and look becoming much more serious.

"You really don't remember me? I know you thought I looked familiar, and I thought the same of you, but I remembered since yesterday." I said, teasing her slightly. When she looked confused still, I continued. "I'll give you a hint. We met at the Cheyanne Mountain complex where the STARGATE is being kept and used." Upon hearing that, her face visibly palled.

"I DON'T REMEMBER YOU, BUT I HAVE TO SINCE YOU KNOW ABOUT THE STARGATE!" she yelled, frustrated that she couldn't remember who I was.

"That hurts." I teased her with a chuckle. "You don't remember all the quality time we spent in the maintenance bay. You, me, and Robert all hanging out as me and him repaired and refit the various IS units that the SGC used."

"Wait… OH MY GOD I REMEMBER YOU! I CANT BELIEVE ITS YOU!" Casandra yelled happily and I started laughing.

"Yes, yes, it's good to see you again too. Let's save the reminiscing for later, since we only have limited time to use the training field, ok?" I asked, still laughing from her reaction.

"Oh, Right! Sorry!" she said sheepishly. "Let's get started then." There was a loud whooshing sound as Casandra flew out of her launch area, being aided by the launch mechanism built into the ground to provide extra momentum. It was a shame that same system couldn't be used for me as well. My IS was just too small. So instead I walked out, holding my IS in its standby mode. However, upon seeing Casandra's IS, I had a moment of surprise. Fate seemed to continue to mock me.

Because floating in front of my launch platform was the Rouge, my old IS.

"…"

"…"

"Ya know what, I'm not even surprised by all the weird shit that keeps happening to me." I muttered, trying to keep a straight face. "I thought the SGC, and America in general, didn't have enough cores to spare one for me. How did you get one? And why are you piloting the Rouge of all things?"

"Wait, YOU WERE THE PILOT WHO TRASHED THIS IS?!" Casandra yelled.

"That wasn't my fault! I was about to die, so was willing to do anything to survive!" I said before sighing. "Well at least I know the most about that IS's combat styles, though I never got much time to properly develop them."

"So you're the one who came up with this ridiculous paint job…" she muttered, but because of the channel she was still on I happened to hear her.

"HEY THAT PAINT JOB IS AWSOME!" I countered.

"DON'T READ MY MIND LIKE THAT!" she yelled. I decided not to correct her, seeing as my mind was being read lately. It was nice to be on the other side for once.

'That's evil.' Yui muttered, having disappeared as soon as Casandra had called me.

'That makes what you do evil as well Yui.' I countered.

'Touché'

"Alright, let me deploy my IS and we'll get started." I said, throwing the briefcase to the very edge of the launch area, it skidding to the very edge before going to set-up mode. I grabbed the handles and let the armor do the rest, slowly but rather epicly build itself around me.

"Whoa…" Casandra muttered, genuinely impressed by the way I was donning my IS. "That's impressive… if a bit impractical."

"It can deploy instantly, but that would be a waste unless it was an emergency." I said. "However, I do just let it return to storage instead of it slowly coming off."

"Makes sense. You always enjoyed making an entrance." Casandra laughed before a repulsor shot hit her shields. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"Lesson one, always keep your guard up. The Rouge has a large amount of shield points, but that doesn't mean you can be sloppy. Always keep yourself on guard." I said before using the thrusters to launch myself up like a jump before my fist collided with her shields. The force of the impact sent her to the ground, though it wasn't enough to make her crash into the ground. This was just practice after all.

"No fair! I wasn't ready!" she said as I landed in front of her.

"Combat isn't fair. Your enemy won't wait for you to be ready. They'll strike when you're vulnerable." I countered. "Now then, the Rouge-"

"Um, before you continue, can I just say that I changed its name?" She said sheepishly.

"… YOU WHAT?"

"I didn't like the name Rouge. It made it seem like the IS wasn't supposed to have a pilot."

"Well it was better than The Patriot, which is what the US was going to call it!" I complained. "Well, what did you change it to?"

"-tus…" she mumbled.

"What? I couldn't hear you."

"Invictus." She said, louder this time. "The poem. You know it, right?"

"Out of the night that covers me. Black as the Pit from pole to pole. I thank whatever gods may be. For my unconquerable soul." I said, reciting the poem. "In the fell clutch of circumstance. I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance. My head is bloody, but unbowed."

"Beyond this place of wrath and tears. Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds, and shall find, me unafraid." Casandra continued. "It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate"

"I am the captain of my soul." We said together.

'Wow. Im surprised you knew that.' Yui commented.

'What, just because I enjoy working out and causing trouble doesn't mean I'm not intelligent. I was primarily an engineer, remember?' I said, defending myself.

'It's just surprising is all.'

"Alright, I can see how that would be a good name change." I continued, "So as I was saying, Invictus is primarily a close range IS that specialized in not just close range combat, but also at deflecting energy based projectiles off its armor. Why they thought of that, I don't know, considering once the shields are down the armor basically becomes dead weight."

"I take offence to that!" Yui said, finally making an appearance.

"WOAH! WHO ARE YOU?" Casandra yelled, very startled by Yui's sudden appearance not a foot from her.

"You explain yourself Yui. I'm going to set up the next lesion." I said, walking away from the girls and towards Robert, who had come running in.

"Alright, everything's sorted out and ready for its software to install. Any weapons that were deployable are already ready to be used, so that's a plus… Is that the Rouge?" he questioned as soon as he noticed Casandra standing in the arena talking to Yui.

"Yeah, and that's Casandra piloting it. Remember that girl who use to come into maintenance back at the SGC?" I asked.

"The one who had a crush on you, but you were too dense to realize it?" he jibed, but was silenced by a swift punch to the gut. Unfortunately, I had to REALLY hold back, seeing as I was in my IS still, but he lost his breath just the same.

"That was just some delusion of yours you bastard, but yes, her. Doc Frasier's adopted child who, just so happened, to be from a different planet." I said.

"Right…" he said when he got his breath back. "I remember her now… didn't she have a bomb in her when she first arrived?"

"Think so, but it's probably better if we don't ask her about it."

"No problems there. It's just nice to have someone else who knows about it all here." Robert commented.

"Yeah. Oh, ill probably be telling Ichika sometime soon. Remember how the President told us that we could recruit people if we thought they would be helpful?" I asked.

"That's what you might have heard, but what I heard through the political BS was; get as many people on our side as possible, while not telling them anything." He answered.

"Yeah, that! I think Ichika would be perfect because it's always been his dream to go to space. That and it's hard to keep from telling him that his chance to do so is a lot closer than he thinks."

"Irony's a bitch."

"Aint that the truth. Also…" I said before punching Robert again. "That was for you talking to loud last night, causing Cecilia to hear most of our conversation. Were probably going to have to tell her as well at some point, since she already knows the name of the program."

"My… Bad… Ill try… To be more… Quiet." He said through pained gasps of air. Shit, did I not hold back on that one? I thought I did.

"My bad dude, didn't mean to hit you that har-" I started to say as my helmet came off before he landed a punch square in my jaw. "Ohhh, you sneaky bastard. You got lucky there. If my shields were up, you would have failed… wait… WHY WERNT MY SHIELDS UP?"

'…'

'YUI!' I mentally yelled.

'Lesson one, always keep your guard up.' Yui quoted.

'You're lucky I said that you little… Gah, just keep my shields up will you?'

'Sure thing J!'

"Alright, since Yui's talking to me, I'll take it you two are acquainted now? I said, walking up to Yui and Casandra with Robert following me closely. "Now then, shall we continue? Our next lesson will be on flight, seeing as that's one of the IS's strongest defense and offensive capabilities…" I started to say. For the next two hours I drilled Casandra on the basics of piloting Invictus. I could already tell that she was going to learn this a lot better than Ichika would. He wasn't just dense when it came to girls, he was dense in just about everything besides cooking and massages (I learned that from a discussion that Robert and Chifuyu had about Ichika that Robert had shared with me, against my will.)

"Alright, I think you're getting the basics." I said after the time was up. "Keep practicing, and you'll be one of the most maneuverable IS pilots at the academy."

"But what about combat? Sure I can dodge well, but I don't know what I'm capable of still." Casandra pouted.

"Don't worry, we'll get to that next time. The tournament isn't for a week anyway." I explained. "I've been sparring with Ichika at night during the week so you can join us then. How's tomorrow night sound?"

"Sounds good, though I have to warn you, I've been training with Teill'k a lot so I won't just go down." She declared with a smirk.

"Good, ill actually have a challenge. Robert, you're getting Ichika tomorrow night!" I told him.

"Got it. You and your girl get to wrestle for the night." He said with a wink. Casandra started to blush intensely where as I turned towards him menacingly.

"Robert…" I said threating.

"OH GOD!" he said, running off like his life depended on it, which it currently did.

"Well, I'm off to hunt him down. Have a good rest of the day Casandra." I said, ruffling her hair before launching into the air and scooping up Robert, threatening to drop him.

'Well, today's been good.' I thought to myself. 'Now if only I can get it to last…'

**ALRIGHT GUYS THAT'S CHAPTER… 5 right? **

**James: Yes you idiot.**

**Hey that's not fair! I've been sitting on this for around a week debating on if this was good enough for a chapter!**

**James: And you decided it was?**

**Well… No. But I figured I could always just call it a chapter and keep going anyway. It just feels like I didn't cover much with this.**

**James: Well, it is titled explanations…**

**True, very true. Anyway, I wasn't just doing nothing for the whole week, I was doing research, both on Stargate SG-1 and Infinite Stratos, so it's not like it was wasted.**

**James: Hmm, what's this? Your Titan on Destiny is an level 20?**

**THAT IT YOU LITT-unintelligible yelling and cussing-**

**James: SEE YOU NEXT TIME GUYS!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AND WERE BACK, LADYS AND GENTELMAN, WITH THE 6****TH**** INSTALLMENT OF ****_THE STARGATE IS_****! **

**James: (Pops open some confetti) yay…**

**I'm honestly surprised you actually put the effort forward to use a confetti popper James.**

**James: Eh, whatever.**

**So, I guess we should probably get on with the show, right?**

**James: Probably. You did say you weren't satisfied with the last chapter after all.**

**Yeah… It just didn't sit well with me. I liked it, but it felt off, ya know?**

**Yui: Yeah, it did just feel… off.**

**James: whatever, I'm just a figment of your imagination aft-WHAT IS YUI DOING HERE**

**She wanted to help, so how could I say no to her?  
James: VERY EASILY SINCE YOU ADDED HER IN THE STORY**

**But I didn't plan for her to act as she does now.**

**James and Yui: WHAT?**

**Yeah… She was originally just going to act like Yui from SAO… but since I like her as a trouble maker ill keep her as is.**

**Yui: YAY!**

**James: NOOOOOOOOO!**

**Hehehe, anyway, this chapter shall be an action packed one. Yes, yes, you're welcome everyone, however I am not confident in my action writing capabilities, so I apologize in advance if it seems… bad.**

**James: At least this will be fun for me for a change.**

**Yui: Things are always fun when your involved J! And im sure you'll do your best Mr. Writer!**

**Thank you Yui! Be sure to give James hell for me!**

**Yui: I WILL!**

**James: WAIT WHA-**

**Let me say just one last thing. In this chapter, there are some changes that haven't been implemented in the previous chapters. I WILL be going back and changing those. Also, I feel like how I address "Charles," or rather Charlotte, was a bit strange at times. It might just be me, but if you feel the same way, let me know. I promise it won't happen in later chapters.**

**CHAPTER 6**

**ROBOT BARFIGHT!**

**(It's a song title, alright?)**

The day of the tournament had arrived. It had been a week since Casandra and I had started training, and she was a quick learner. She also had amazing potential as an IS pilot, but I think that was more due to personal issues about the Stargate, namely the Goa'uld, that gave her the drive to learn as much as she could. I already had figured out that she wanted to be on a SG team after graduating, much like I probably would be doing after this was all said and done.

I also still had to tell Ichika, but had decided to wait until he passed my test before I told him anything. His test; manage to nearly defeat me in battle, both in and out of an IS. Even if he put up a valiant effort I might tell him. Might being the operating word there, this was Ichika were talking about after all. He probably wouldn't know I was telling him he could fulfill his dreams of going to the stars until we came under fire by a squad of hostile Jaffa or something.

Thankfully, Robert had been training him quite well during the past week, with Ichika getting actual IS training with Rin and Cecilia. From what little I had seen and heard, he was turning out quite well, but still had a long way to go.

"MR. REVERAND!" Ms. Orimura yelled as her clipboard collided with my shields. There was a small pop-up that appeared immediately after the damage was done, reading: _warning, shields have taken damage from a friendly target. Shield points currently 620/625. Threat level: HIGH. _

'well this is new…' I thought before her clipboard collided with my shields again. _WARNING, shields have taken damage from a friendly target. Shield points currently at 610/625. Threat level: DANGEROUS. _'GEE, YOU DON'T SAY!'

"What is it Ms. Orimura?" I asked, not wanting to piss her off even more by calling her by her least favorite nickname.

"Don't you remember what I told you last night!" she yelled. We were currently sitting in the classroom, with classes about to start for the day, so that comment brought a LOT of unwanted attention from the girls in class.

"I didn't know Ms. Orimura was into him!" a pair giggled

"No fair! I wanted to be with her!" another wined.

"I WANT TO BECOME A POKEMON MASTER!" a third shoute-WAIT WHAT?

"SETTLE DOWN EVERYONE!" Ms. Orimura yelled, getting the class under control. "I was merely reminding James that he has to introduce our new transfer student, since they will be rooming together."

"Ohhhhhh, Right! That!" I said, having no clue what she was talking about.

'J she came by last night and told you all of this!' Yui said

'She did? Why don't I remember that?'

'Because afterward you said something about Houki and she came in and hit you in the head…' Yui explained.

'Oh, that makes sens- WHY WERNT MY SHIELDS UP YUI?' I mentally yelled.

'BECAUSE YOU DESERVED IT!' she mentally yelled back

'IRELAVENT! WHO AM I INTRODUCING AND WHY ARE THEY ROOMING WITH ME?'

'Their name is Charles Dunois, and your rooming with him because he is the third male IS pilot.' Yui said. Huh, you would think I would remember something important like that. All well. I stood up and started to walk to the front of class before I turned to Ms. Orimura. "Wait, where is he?" I asked.

"He'll be arriving at the school shortly, so you are to go and meet him at the gate. After that, come introduce him to the class before I dismiss you two so you can show her around the school. Think you can remember that this time?" She said, clearly frustrated.

"Sure thing…" I said as I finished walking to the door, "Chi-Chan!" A quick duck to avoid the ruler coming through the BLOODY WALL allowed me to escape unscathed, at least until my return.

'It's fun to pick on her and all, but I might stop shielding you.' Yui said with a snicker.

"That would be rude, and not very smart. We do share this body ya know. If I die, you'll probably die also." I said out loud.

"Right… I'll keep your shields up from now on…" she said as she materialized and walked with me. I continued to not ask her how she was able to actually do that, despite Roberts increasingly annoying attempts to get an answer out of her. I knew that she would tell me when she was ready and saw no need to push the subject, and while Yui didn't say it directly, I knew that my efforts (or rather my lack of efforts) was greatly appreciated.

"So what does Charles look like?" I asked. "It shouldn't be hard to spot him, considering we'll probably be there when he pulls in, but it's helpful to put a face to a name."

"Here ya go J." she said, swiping her hand towards me while causing a holographic image to appear in my vison. A short haired blond with purple eyes. It wasn't much of a picture of his body, being the typical head shot that personal ID cards had, but I immediately thought the guy looked feminine.

"I don't know what I was expecting, but that wasn't it." I said, pointing to the picture. "I'm no expert, but damn that looks like a girl."

"You've taken too many hits to the head for you to say he's a girl." Yui said with a mischievous smile as we walked outside.

"That's your fault!" I said, grabbing Yui and putting her in a loose head lock. As soon as she registered what I had planned, she started flailing her arms and legs, letting out screams of terror and apologies for her antics. It didn't save her, however, from me doing the one thing she hated: ruffling her hair. Between her yelling and my laughing, we didn't hear the person's approach until they cleared their voice.

"Um, hello there." The person, upon looking up I realized it was Charles, said with a confused look towards us. "A-Are you two the people I was told would be waiting for me?"

"You were told there would be more than one?" I asked, only to be hit on the head by Yui. "OW! What's with people hitting my head today?"

"Yes, were the people you were told to meet. I'm Yui, James' IS core." Yui said, receiving a shocked expression from Charles. "Before you ask, I'd rather not explain the overly technical reason why you can see me."

'Well at least there's a reason' I thought, making sure Yui couldn't hear me. "Yeah. She's annoying, evil, and at times homicidal, but she has her uses." I teased. "I'm James by the way. Nice to meet you…"

'Yui there's no way that's a guy.' I thought, making sure Yui could hear me this time.

'J, what are you talking about? It's totally a guy!' Yui complained.

'No way, that's a girl. Mark my words it's a girl, or I'll give you whatever you want.' I declared.

'OH, YOUR SO ON!'

'Ground rules: we can't ask directly, and we can't spy on him/her. He/She has to slip up on their own.' I said, leaving no room for argument.

'Fine.'

"It's a pleasure to meet you both." Charles said, drawing us from Yui and I from our private conversation. "I hope that we can become friends"

"I'm sure were going to get along great, otherwise being roommates is going to suck." I said, getting a laugh out of him, or rather her. That laugh sounded just a little too feminine. His voice when speaking, however, was pretty good. Clearly French, despite speaking English at the moment, due to her heavy accent. His posture was also quite well, but I could tell that it was rehearsed. It was the subtle cues that were hard for most people to see. Even I, despite my best attempts to learn, hadn't been able to properly grasp the concepts. I had learned just enough though to help me out.

Basically there were things that just couldn't be hidden. Most of it resides in the actual skeletal differences between males and females, like the hip and cheek bones. These could be covered up by surgery, but the way a person acted often betrayed that. Things like when a girl would put her hand on her hip when giving sass to someone, or how their body's muscles developed to compensate for the added, um… chest weight. Naturally, changing how one acted required having to act a different way, almost constantly, until it became how the normally acted.

Charles had the tell-tale signs of someone who had gone through the training to change her actions, but hadn't finished. Thus, his head tilt and smile looked VERY feminine, but it had a second, unwanted effect as well.

It made me feel damn awkward.

"Right. Well, shall we get to class? I'm supposed to introduce you to the class." I said, trying to get over my weird feeling.

"Oh, right! Please, lead the way." He said. No wait, she. Gah, this was going to be confusing until it was all sorted out. I let Yui lead the way while I walked behind Charles. Immediately, I realized her hair was actually longer than it appeared in the picture, mainly due to it being in a ponytail behind her. I also noticed that she had a small orange winged necklace that was undoubtedly her personal IS. It didn't surprise me really, seeing as to transfer into the academy, one had to be very smart and talented with an IS. Most of said people usually had their own IS already. Eventually we reached the classroom, and boy were they surprised.

"Alright everyone, this is Charles Dunois. He's joining our class as of today and is also going to be my roommate." I said, ignoring the loud complaints and protests coming from about half the girls in the class. The other half simply glared daggers at Charles, but he just kept smiling. "MOVING ON!" I yelled, taking on a drill instructor voice and quieting everyone down better than Ms. Orimura. "I expect you to all treat him with the same level of respect you would give me, Robert, or Ichika. Are we clear?"

"Y-YES SIR!" The class responded, and the girls who were glaring at her quickly averted their eyes.

"Good, is there anything you want to add?" I asked Charles.

"Yes, thank you." He said in his weird half boy, half girl voice that was OBVOUSLY that of a girl. "I hope we can all get along great and be friends." He said, giving another smile and head tilt that ended up making me feel awkward again. Apparently I wasn't the only one, because Robert raised his eyebrow and sent me a silent question. We both wanted to know just who this "guy" was.

"Thank you James, Charles. You can continue your tour of the school now. Ill expect to see you both in class on Monday." Ms. Orimura said. Charles and I both nodded and walked out, meeting up with Yui who had stayed outside the classroom.

"So, where do you wana go?" Yui asked with her trademark innocent smile. Too bad for her I knew better than to trust that smile.

"Well, why don't you show her around Yui?" I said, getting surprised glances from the both of them. "I need to take care of a few things. I'll catch up with you both back at the room ok?"

"Sure thing J!" Yui said happily.

"Oh, ok then. Ill see you later then James." Charles said, giving YET ANOTHER HEAD TILT SMILE. Gah that just made me feel weird! I turned and headed towards the IS maintenance bays, eager to go over the new upgrades to the Mark V.

It took me a little while to walk over to the maintenance area, this place was just freeking huge and the maintenance area was clear across the campus from the classrooms. As I walked up to the door, I flashed my ID card and strolled on in, walking up to my IS's pen. Standing there in the center of the pen was the Mark V, looking no different than it did last week, with the exception of two golden bands on each arm. One was around each of the wrist plates, and the other was up towards the elbows. Other than that minor change, which only looked like a paint job, there was nothing else that made it look different.

And that's just the way I wanted it.

**A FEW HOURS LATER.**

I whipped the grease off my forehead onto my sleeve. Never have I been so happy than I was at that moment. Despite the lack of any change in appearance, I now had quite a few new toys to play with, courtesy of losing a bet with Tabane. While I still feared what she wanted me to do for her, I largely felt it was completely worth it for the massive amounts of goodies she had sent me.

"Well, guess I should be getting back. Don't want to hear Yui's speech about 'when you make a girl a promise' again." I muttered to myself before locking down the suit and leaving the area. Thankfully, Yui was always monitoring the IS, so if someone who wasn't allowed to use it started messing with it, I would know immediately. After the long trip back to the dorms, I walked into my room and immediately took off my shirt, only to hear a VERY feminine yelp from my left.

"J-James! W-What are you doing?" Charles asked, her face reddening as I tossed my shirt into the dirty clothes pile.

"Well, my shirt was dirty and greasy, so I was going to put on a new one." I stated flatly. If Charles was going to be this obvious it almost made it not worth the bet with Yui.

"O-Oh… Right." He said, trying to recompose herself. "Still, could you warn me next time? I… don't want to see another guy naked."

"Pfff, good luck in the military then." I said with a small smirk. "Most of the time were just lucky to get a shower, so we don't care about being seen by either gender."

"S-So you're in the military?" He asked.

"I guess I am still, all things considered. I learned I could pilot an IS in the military, despite what the news says, and they let me come here. I wouldn't be surprised when the swoop in out of nowhere and demand me to go off on some mission for them." I said, pulling on a clean shirt. "What about you? How did you learn you could pilot an IS?"

"Oh, you didn't hear about it on the news?"

"Don't watch much news. Most of the time Yui just gives me a rundown of what's happening in the world. Speaking of Yui, where is she?" I asked, and put on a confused look when Charles chuckled.

"She's in the cafeteria. Something about the cooking there being better than yours." He said with a giggle.

"Ungrateful little… Anyway, no, I didn't see your news broadcast." I sighed, getting us back to my first question.

"Right. My father is the CEO of Dunois Industries, so naturally I grew up around IS units. Because everyone universally thought that only males could pilot an IS, I only studied about the IS until you and Ichika were discovered as IS pilots. After that, I was given a chance to try and pilot a basic training unit, and everyone was surprised when I could." He said, though his expression had changed. He was happy before, but now his face held a slightly pained expression. "After that I studied up on different languages and was sent here by my father."

"I take it you two aren't on the best of terms?"

"Yes… To say our relationship is strained wouldn't be inaccurate."

"Well, he can't touch you here, so you're going to be fine." I said, sitting down in a chair before coming to an idea. "Hey, you have your own IS, right?"

"H-How did…" she started to say.

"Well, you're from France and are probably like me. They asked you to be a male representative contender for the country like the US did with me, so you would have to have your own IS."

"Yes. The Raphael-Revive Custom II. Why?"

"Well there's a school wide tournament this weekend. I don't know if you could still join, but it could be fun." I said with a smile. "Those with their own IS are in a separate category, so if you make it far in the tournament, we could have a battle."

"That does sound like fun, but do you think I could join when it starts so soon?" she asked.

"I don't see why not." A voice came from the doorway. "Glad to see your adjusting well."

"Hey Chi-Chan." I said offhandedly, and surprisingly I didn't get hit this time. "What, no clipboard or book to throw?"

"Don't get coy with me James. I know you had the room soundproofed. As long as no one overhears, I couldn't care less what you call me." Chifuyu said, showing a surprisingly easy going side.

"Dear lord, I didn't believe in miracles before, but now I do!" I said jokingly, only to have my shields take a hit. _Warning, shields have taken damage from a friendly target. Shield points currently 600/625. Threat level: VERY DANGEROUS._ I looked down at what she had thrown at me, only to see a pencil. "Ok… you officially scare the living shit out of me."

"Then stop with the smartass remarks." She said simply. "Now then, Dunois, if you want I can put you into the tournament. A slot opened up today in a training accident where a student broke her leg. Needless to say, she won't be competing. Your welcome to the slot should you want it."

"Thank you. I greatly appreciate it." She said with a small bow. "As long as it wouldn't pose any issue, then ill happily accept your offer."

"Then it's settled. The tournament starts tomorrow at noon. You will be in the first match against James." She said with a smirk.

"Oh, that's just low." I muttered. _Warning, shields have taken damage from a friendly target. Shield points currently 550/625. Threat level: STOP TALKING YOU IDIOT! _"A FUCKING ERASER CAP!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?"

"Still got it." Was all Chifuyu said before leaving a stunned Charles, and a VERY CONFUSED AND CONSERNED me, to our awkward situation.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Well shit." I said. "That's not how I expected that to go."

"Yes, I wasn't expecting to have to battle my roommate in the first battle." Charles said.

"No not that! That demon just brought my shields down a full 75 points using a pencil and an eraser cap!" I said, my voice full of terror.

"J, shouldn't you be focusing on how were going to beat a custom IS?" Yui asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"Oh… nah, I'm sure we'll be fine." I said. "Besides, this isn't the place for that. The last thing I want to do is create a strategy with my opponent STANDING INFRONT OF ME."

"Oh…" Yui said as she turned around to see Charles standing there. "Right."

"Well, you did say you wished me to go far in the tournament so that we could battle. Now we just need to get to fight earlier." Charles said, giving a determined smile.

"Well, if your fine with it, then I am too." I said.

"Best man wins?" Charles asked, offering her fist for a fist bump. Hopefully she couldn't tell I had figured her out as a girl.

"Let's take it a bit further. Loser has to tell the winner whatever they want. Any dirty little secret the winner wants."

"Deal." He said without hesitation.

"Then let's have fun tomorrow!" I said, pounding my fist with his.

**THE NEXT DAY**

"How many do we have up and running now?" I asked Robert as we went over our strategy in the morning. We were sitting in the maintenance bay eating breakfast again, though this time we had better supplies.

"Roughly six." He replied. "Don't know if you count your own modifications as one, so not counting that one, five."

"Oh, it counts, and it's up and running just fine… I hope." I said, muttering the last part.

"It should run just fine. I haven't detected anything wrong, and I stayed up all night running simulations." Yui said, taking another bite of the waffles I had made. "Hey, these aren't half bad!"

"Gee, glad you like them compared to last week's pancakes." I said, glaring at Yui. "Charles said you were in the cafeteria complaining about my cooking."

"NO I JUST LIKED THEIRS BETTER!" Yui yelled, clearly embarrassed.

**A FEW HOURS LATER**

I was walking into the male changing room. Normally, it was quiet in here, but with three guys (Or should I say two guys and a girl) it was a bit louder. Not in a bad way, but it was a bit strange changing with a civilian girl.

"So Charles, how are you adjusting?" Ichika said, getting ready for his match against Cecilia in arena two. "James hasn't gotten into a fist fight with you, has he?"

"W-What? Of course he hasn't!" Charles said.

"What's this!" He yelled, knowing I had come in. "You going soft on this guy and not me? Or is it that your attracted to him and don't want to hurt him."

"Sod off Ichika. He's been here for a day and is entering the tournament! Obviously I wouldn't do anything beforehand." I said, giving the two of them a smirk. "Wouldn't be a fair fight otherwise."

"Oh, that's new. Normally you're not this eager to fight. It's mostly a calm Zen like trance when we spar." Ichika commented.

"This isn't training, and it's not a real battle." I raised my hand to stop their protests. "What I mean by that is that no one can die. To me, this is basically full contact sparing and I have a few new toys I want to try out."

"Ohh that explains it. You got a big new gun. Should have figured, since that's really the only way your eager to actually get into a fight." He said. Charles had walked around the corner to get into his combat outfit.

"Like I said Ichika, sod off. It's not every day you get a grenade launcher that doubles as a fucking railgun! I just had to try that out!"

"Un-huh, and you just HAD to try it out on me."

"Well yea. You're the only one dense enough to say yes." I teased, getting a laugh out of Charles as he walked around the corner in his combat outfit. 'Not obvious at all Charles… not obvious at all.'

"From what little I've heard about you Ichika, I think that he, how you say, hit the nail on the head on that one." 'He' said.

"Don't forget our little bet Charles. I can't wait to see your face when I win this tournament." I said.

"Still gota go through me and Charles, James. Don't get cocky." Ichika chuckled. "Otherwise you might lose like Cecilia has a habit of doing."

"Oh, low blow there man." I said, quickly putting on my combat outfit as Ichika did the same. Charles quickly and conveniently ducked out, saying he was going to his staging area.

"Alright man, what the hell is going on between you two." Ichika said the moment Charles left. "And don't tell me it's nothing, I'm not as dense as everyone things I am."

"I doubt that." I muttered. "It's nothing to be worried about. And before you ask, no, I'm not gay damn it!"

"Well then what is it!" he pressed. "If it's nothing to worry about, then why can't I know?"

"Tell you what, if you and I fight at some point, I'll tell you if you win. If I win, you basically become my bitch for a day. Deal?"

"What if we don't end up fighting each other?" he said. "There's probably a good chance we'll end up not fighting since most of the personal IS users are 2nd and 3rd years."

"Whoever lasts longer in that scenario wins. So do we have a deal or not?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're on man. Deal." He replied.

"Good. Now I have two reasons to go out and whoop Charles ass." Upon seeing Ichika's smirk I continued. "NOT LIKE THAT YOU BASTARD! Now get out of here, our matches are about to start!"

We both left the locker room, telling each other not to lose to anyone else before our fight. Unfortunately, based on the bracket system, we would have to win 5 matches each in order to for us to fight. We gave each other a fist bump and went our ways.

As I walked into the IS launch hangar, Robert and Yui were waiting for me. Unfortunately, their waiting often ended in yelling and arguing, followed by Yui threatening him in some way with some files on his computer.

"Alright, Yui, I want you internal. No offence, but I don't think it would be a good idea for the world to see you just yet." I said breaking them up. "There's a lot of companies, sponsors, and generally important people out there today, including SG-1. Their mostly here for Cassandra, but I'll put money on Carter being out there as well for our match, so let's not show you off until we have to."

"Got it J." Yui said, jumping into my head.

"Robert, I honestly don't have much for you. I want you to go and watch the match for my next opponent so that I have an idea on who it is and what their skillset is."

"No problem. What set are you going to use against Charles though?" he asked.

"Since we don't know the specks on her IS, let's just leave all options open. Just in case. Don't worry, once I use one, I'll stick to it. Don't want people getting a good idea of all our tricks."

"Got it. Ill head up to the control room and make sure their all up. After that ill head to the arena for recon." He said, walking out. "Good luck to ya man!"

"I don't need luck," I yelled back to him, "I HAVE AMMO!"

'Wow, you went there?' Yui asked mentally.

'Yui, I yelled IM FIRING MY LAZOR, when I used the Unibeam. Of course I'm going there.'

'Fair enough. Now let's go win this J.' And with that, I started walking.

By the time I reached the edge of the hangar, there was a large roar of approval from the crowd. The stands were completely packed, but that didn't surprise me. This was the first match of the tournament, and it was two of the supposed three male IS pilots fighting. It would be just about all eyes on this match, with more than enough eyes still on Ichika's match.

Looking over to the student section, I managed to spot Casandra and Cecilia with Yui's help. They were both waiving, but were far enough away from each other to not realize they were doing the same thing, while close enough that my return waive made them think I had been responding to them.

"You ready for this?" Charles asked, opening up a private channel with me.

"But of course I am. What gave you the impression that I wasn't?" I teased.

"Well, for one your standing there with a briefcase… and you don't have your IS."

"Ah, that's where your wrong." I said with a smirk and tossed the briefcase onto the floor of the hangar, leaving everyone who was watching (which was EVERYONE since Charles had already flown out of her hangar.) confused. The briefcase changed to its true metallic colors and prepped for deployment. One glorious and drawn out armor-up later, I stood there in my Mark V IS in all its glory. For added effect, I had Yui hack the speakers and play none other than Thunderstruck by ACDC.

And the crowd went nuts.

'Gah, that's such a cliché!' Yui complained.

"Wait, is that not the Iron Man from the movies? How do you have an IS such as that?" Charles questioned over our private link.

"uh-uh, nice try Charles. You only get to ask questions like that if you win, remember?" I said with a smirk. Now then… LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!" I yelled, launching up into the air as the final buzzer went off, signaling the start of the match. Charles quickly materialized a Vent, a .55 caliber assault rifle with a detachable magazine that held 16 rounds. Rather than immediately trying to fire at me, Charles instead aimed down her sights and waited for the right chance to fire. When she finally did, I was very impressed.

If I had been in the Rouge, or as Cassandra called it 'Invictus', the round would have hit my left wing and sent me to the ground. Thankfully, being in a much smaller frame that didn't require the wings for flight, the round grazed my shields, only dropping them by a point.

What had really impressed me was the range at which she had taken the shot. Her Vent, while having a longer range than a sub-machine gun or shotgun, still didn't have the range of a sniper rifle. Despite that, she still managed to hit me at double the standard distance for her Vent.

"Nice shot. Not many people could pull off something like that." I said via the private channel.

"Why thank you. I did learn from some of the best in France!" Charles replied, firing another round. This time I had moved a bit closer and the round collided with my shields dead center. To make matters worse, it had been an HE round, so there was extra damage from the explosion. "Hopefully you will be putting up more of a challenge than that!"

The smoke from the explosion was still lingering around me, completely obscuring Charles' view of me. I needed to get in close and see what other weapons she had before I could properly counter her, so I did something stupid. Naturally.

Bursting through the smoke, I shot towards her at full speed. Apparently, she was shocked by my maneuver and didn't fire another round until it was too late. When she did fire, the round went flying and hit the stadium's shields harmlessly. The reason it didn't hit me? I had barreled into her like a battering ram and brought both of us crashing into the ground.

'Please don't do that again J.' Yui muttered. 'I think I'm actually dizzy from that.'

'Trust me, I don't plan on doing that again anytime soon.' I replied. 'What's our shields at after that?'

'Holding steady at 600. Most of the damage was from her HE round and not the crash landing. Can't say the same for her shields though.'

There was a bright flash as the dust started to settle. Fearing the worst, I quickly got up and combat rolled to the right, narrowly avoiding a blast from her new weapon. A .62 caliber heavy shotgun with the words "Rain of Saturday" etched into the side.

"Just hold still would you!" Charles said as she fired another round, only to miss yet again. I fell back, just outside of her effective range with her shotgun and fired my repulsor gauntlets at her, forcing her to dodge for once.

"Be careful of what you ask for!" I teased in an evil tone. "You just might get it!" I kept firing at her, making sure that at least a few blasts managed to hit. I could tell she still had more in reserve, but I had a pretty good idea of what her IS was capable of now. Just had to be sure before I truly went on the offensive.

Turns out I didn't have to wait long, as Charles' shotgun vanished as a pair of Garm .61 Caliber SMGs replaced it. She immediately opened fire and took a chunk of my shield points. If there ever was a time to use my ace in the hole, it was now.

"Yui, Defender!" I said calmly, making sure Charles heard me over the private link.

"Already ready!" she replied as I moved my left arm out in front of me. Coming off my armor, the two golden bands flew off and hovered in front of me, the bottom one went to the ground while the top one hovered roughly 2 and a half meters above the other. The instant they were in place, a blue force field appeared and blocked the rest of Charles' rounds with no damage being done.

"W-What is that!" Charles asked through the link.

"This is Safeguard. A defensive shield that blocks just about everything while on a separate power supply. This baby won't go down from power loss and doesn't take away shield energy." I explained before dashing forward and swung my arm forward, using Safeguard as a battering ram and sending Charles flying back.

She recovered quickly and did the next predictable thing; she glided around me in a circle while firing, intending to use her speed to get around Safeguard. This would have worked, however, if not for me firing a round in her path from my shoulder mounted grenade launcher in its Railgun form. The explosion, enhanced by the liquid Naquadah tip of the round, sent her flying clear across the arena.

**IN THE CONTROL ROOM**

**Chifuyu's PoV**

"Ms. Orimura, there was a large explosion in Arena one." Ms. Yamada said, looking up from her screen. The control room was under the arena instead of outside in the stadium, mainly for safety reasons incase the academy was attacked.

"I'm well aware of that. Their match is up on the screen." I said, feeling like Maya had just stated the painfully obvious.

"I understand that, but the shields in the area took a huge hit! We lost roughly five percent of the shields strength from just the one blast." Maya said, a bit of fear in her voice.

"Let me see." I said, moving Maya out of the way a bit forcefully. I felt bad slightly, but if what she said was true, and it was, then there were a bunch of new problems I would have to address. The first one being…

"What the hell did he shoot?" Maya said, slowly getting backup after falling.

"And what the hell else is he capable of?" I added in a quiet whisper.

**BACK IN ARENA ONE**

"MY WORD! ICHIKA LET YOU USE THAT ON HIM!" Charles said, her face visibly paling as she got back up. "JUST HOW DENSE IS THAT MAN!"

"Very dense." I said with a laugh. "Of course, he didn't know what he was getting into until it hit him. Literall-HEY!"

I was cut off by Charles slamming her shoulder into Safeguard, causing me to do a quick roll backwards to still be protected by the unbreakable shield. It was then that I noticed Charles grinning slightly, presumably thinking she had the upper hand.

A piece of her armor came off and reviled a small, cylindrical tube with a muzzle coming off of it. Etched on the side of the muzzle were some words, but I couldn't make them out. Immediately firing while still basically on top of me, the round slammed into Safeguard. Instead of what I was expecting, the round started digging through the force field, but thankfully stopped roughly half way. Apparently this surprised Charles as well, as she fired two more times. Her last shot broke through, though it had the effect of a regular pistol instead of whatever force had been behind it before.

Spinning around and sweeping Charles off her feet, no not that way damn it, I repeatedly bashed the weakened Safeguard against her shields. While stunning her, I had Yui prep the grenade launcher to switch to its railgun firing mode, which was twice a powerful. Now staring the railgun down the barrel, I gave Charles a choice.

"You and I can keep fighting, or you can surrender." I said in a completely calm voice. "I really don't want to fire this at point blank. Last time I shot something explosive at close range, I nearly died."

"I-I-I yield." She muttered and another buzzer went off, signaling I had won. Smiling, I deactivated the railgun and Safeguard while reaching down and offering my hand to help her up.

"Damn good fight. Just what the hell is that under-armor cannon?" I said as she grabbed my hand and I pulled her up. She was blushing heavily after stumbling and all but kissing me in the process, but she recovered quickly enough.

"It's called Grey Scales." She said, rotating her arm so I could properly see the inscription. "It's one of Dunois Industries few success attempts at a shield pierce weapon. Its limited to extreme close range though. I'm more interested in knowing how a grenade could cause that much damage."

"That's my little secret." I said before walking back to my hangar. "At least, for now it is. Oh, and don't forget our little bet."

"How could I forget." I heard her mumble before she walked back to her hanger.

**HALF AN HOUR LATER**

"Dude you were epic!" Robert yelled. "I didn't think that Defender would work so well!"

"Are you saying you didn't have faith in my engineering skills?" I asked, acting offended. "Robert you know I out preformed you in every test we had back during training. Why would now be any different?"

"Because while you aced the classes, every single experiment you tried ended up failing miserably.." he deadpanned.

"Shut up." I said. After the match I had taken a shower and was now sitting in the stands watching a match in the regular student bracket. Casandra's match was currently going, but by the time I would have made it over to her arena it would have been over. Other than that, there were no personal IS matches going on, the next ones starting in another hour and mine wasn't for another hour after that.

"So why didn't you use all of Defender's capabilities?" He asked. "You only used Safeguard and the grenade launcher."

"Gota have some secrets still. Plus I was confident in beating her with just those. Almost got worried when she started to pierce Safeguard though." I commented. "Still, it took her a few shots with a shield pierce weapon, so it should be fine."

"J you designed that to withstand a shield pierce weapon" Commented Yui, who was in her Pixie form and was sitting on my shoulder.

"Yeah, but not multiple strikes in the same spot. Sure it's an energy shield, but sti-OW!" I yelled as someone grabbed my ear and started to drag me. Looking up, which was quite painful, I saw that it was Chifuyu. "OW STOP DRAGING ME BY MY EAR! I CAN WALK YOU KNOW!"

"Follow me then." She said, tossing me forward. I slowly got up and started following her, with Yui and Robert following closely behind. After a bit of walking, an elevator ride, and some more walking, we reached the underground control room.

"So, mind telling us why we're here? And why you literally dragged me part of the way?" I asked, clearly irritated.

"How about you answer my questions!" She yelled, startling everyone. "How the hell did a single grenade cause an explosion that dropped the stadiums shields by five percent?"

"What do you mean?" Robert asked, not as scared as me and Yui. Sighing, Chifuyu pulled up the shield readings from my match with Charles.

"When James fired the round from his launcher, it missed Charles and collided with the stadium shields. Despite that, the explosion was large enough to send him flying and dropped the stadium shields by five percent. Had that round impacted directly on his shields, he would have died."

Robert, Yui, and I stayed silent for a couple seconds. This was quickly going bad in all the worst ways possible. We couldn't tell her about how the grenade worked without telling her about classified information. Plus she thought I had tried to kill Charles, so she wouldn't be taking 'sorry, it's classified' for an answer… or was there?

"Mam." I said, addressing her as a commanding officer. "To clarify, revealing this is a breach of classified information. Are you asking me to disregard my orders?"

"Yes damnit! A student could have died, so I don't care about things being classified!" She yelled, clearly agitated by my response.

"Very well." I said, stunning everyone in the room. "Knowing your relationship with Tabane, you'll probably find out from her anyway. Regardless, you must hold this information under the HIGHEST classification of top secret. Do you understand?"

"Start talking." She said, sitting down and calming down.

"The round works by replacing traditional HE round components with a new element called Naquadah. This element, discovered by the US military, has been discovered to enhance explosions by a minimum factor of two. That said, I knew it would have killed her with her shields as they were from a test with Ichika not too long ago." I stated.

"You tested this on my brother?" Chifuyu said, barely holding in her rage.

"Yes, but I had warned him about the dangers beforehand. He knew exactly what he was walking into. The results were that it all but depleted his shields. Using that information and knowledge of the rounds explosive radius, I fired it at the shields to get what damage I could on his unit."

"On Ichika's?" Robert asked, clearly confused.

"No you idiot! On Charles!" Yui said, slapping Robert.

"That being said," I continued, ignoring those two, "it is only fired from the railgun, not the launcher, which gives it its additional destructive capabilities. Typical HE rounds with a Naquadah tip won't do nearly as much damage. Also, don't ask me why, but Tabane saw it fit to send me grenades with a mixture of micrograms of Naquadah and Potassium, while enveloped in a gel saturated with another classified element mixed with Deuterium. When it goes off, the grenade produces an explosion somewhere around one kiloton."

Upon hearing this, Chifuyu visibly paled. Understandable, considering I had just told her that I had the equivalent of a nuclear grenade minus the radiation. However, nothing could have prepared me for what she said next.

"That will be all."

"Just like that!?" Robert questioned. "But… He just said he had a super grenade on steroids!"

"I am aware of that." Chifuyu clarified. "And while it terrifies me, I couldn't do anything to take it from him even if I wanted to."

"Wait… did I just hear Chi-Chan admit to not being able to beat someone?" Yui asked, her voice laced with disbelief.

"That's not it." I said, eying Chifuyu who nodded. "It's a respect between warriors. She trusts me to not use it. Honestly the damn thing scares the hell out of me too."

"Plus I had said I wanted to know how you did it. I never said anything about punishment or taking action afterwards." Chifuyu added. Despite her ability to kill me with a damn eraser cap, I think she was actually warming up to me.

_Warning, shields have taken damage from a friendly target. Shield points currently 457/625. Threat level: STOP TRYING TO DIE! _

"I'm not even going to look down at what the hell that was. Just know that you terrify me almost more than that damn grenade." I said as I turned around and started to leave. "Oh, and there's a LOT more than meets the eye about all of this."

"Ms. Orimura! There was another explosion. This one from arena three!" Ms. Yamada, half the time she was called 'sexy teacher' by Robert, yelled as she ran into the room.

"Casandra." I sighed. "She and I both came from the same organization, so it makes sense she would have similar, if not the same, grenades."

"Have a talk with her after her match ok? Make sure she won't use the kiloton." Chifuyu said before following Ms. Yamada. Robert, Yui, and I proceeded to arena three after being allowed to leave.

"So… Why did you tell her that?" Robert asked. "You know were not supposed to talk about shit like that unless we can get them to join… you bastard! You're trying to get her to join the Stargate program!"

"Of course I am. Having the first Brunhilde helping out at the SGC would be AMAZINGLY valuable." I said. "If she could train people operating SGC IS's, think of how much better our forces would be when off-world."

"True, but I'm iffy on her joining." Robert said.

"That's just because you like her. Like I said, she would be training, not operating off-world." I explained. "In the end its general Hammond's decision, but I'm pretty sure he would be influenced by my opinion."

"Whatever, let's just drop it. We do have two and three quarters of a year to go through still before we have to make the decision."

"Your right. For now, let's just enjoy the tournament and go see how Casandra's match ended." I said, getting a cheer out of Yui. A few minutes later and we were standing in the stands, watching the match continue to our great surprise.

From the looks of it, Casandra was going against the Canadian candidate. Her IS, a dull rust red with yellow stars on the shoulders, looked to be an early second generation Predator. Initially designed as the Canadian's equivalent of the French Rafale-Revive basic and the Japanese Uchigane, it had proved to be costly to mass produce. By the time production stopped, only ten Predator frames had been created.

This one in particular looked like it had been heavily modified. Or maybe it wasn't. There was very little known about what the original frame for Predator's looked like, since all ten had disappeared, only showing up every now and again, each time looking different than the last.

"Sir, I think that IS is using technology retrieved from the Stargate." I heard someone say, immediately getting my full attention. Looking around, I sighed in relief when I spotted none other than SG-1.

"Hey Carter! Daniel, Jack, Teill'k!" I yelled, getting their attention as Robert and I approached them. Yui immediately ducked into my head so Carter wouldn't question her constantly.

"Well, well, well, look who it is! The shower answerer! Where's the girl who was with you?" Jack teased, knowing I hated that call and had used the bet to get back at her. We exchanged greetings with everyone before he continued. "You know, making that woman work her ass off for a whole night is rather rude. Especially when we were off-world at the time."

"Right. I'm so sorry about that." I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "So anyway, how did she do?"

"Tabane preformed surprisingly well." Teill'k said. "I was quite surprised at her understanding of hand to hand combat."

"You didn't…" I muttered

"He did." Jack, Carter and Daniel all said together.

"Well that's only mildly terrifying. So how's Casandra's match been going?" I asked, taking a seat behind the group. Thankfully we were located in a fairly empty area, so there was plenty of seating.

"Pretty well actually." Daniel said, turning back towards the match. "I should feel surprised at this, but then again she has a lot of motivation."

"I'll say." Robert and Carter said together. Nodding to Carter, she continued. "Being used as a human bomb as a child defiantly would make a person want to get as strong as possible."

"It's not like she hasn't expressed an interest in joining the SGC either." Jack said. "The girl's developed a stubborn streak. Won't take no for an answer when it comes to joining."

"That why she's here?" I asked.

"Yeah. Doc Fraiser wouldn't let her join outright without some form of training." Jack continued. "Certainly helps to be able to pilot one of the most deadly weapons ever created."

"Well we think that part of that has to do with the Naquadah in her bloodstream." Carter said, raising her hand to avoid interruption. "We don't know how, yet. Were still running tests."

"Hey guys…" Daniel said, "Look at that."

We all turned our attention to the match, and were fairly shocked to see Cassandra's IS in a smoldering ruin. Thankfully, she appeared to be alive and well, but it didn't look like it was going to stay that way for long. The Canadian Predator had walked up to Casandra and aimed what looked like a modified staff weapon at her.

"The match is over, right?" Jack muttered. "Carter, tell me the match is over."

"Its over sir, but it doesn't look like that girl is going to stop." Carter replied, her voice slightly higher due to her nervousness.

'J, Chi-Chan is telling the student to stand down, but she isn't listening.' Yui said.

'Think we need to intervene?' I asked.

'Considering how pissed off Chi-Chan is, I'd say yes!'

Before anyone could say anything else, I had burst from my seat and had Yui deploy the Mark V. Screw being fancy and dramatic, I needed it NOW. Slamming into the shield between the stands and the arena, I had Yui hack the emitters around me to go faulty for a couple seconds, allowing me to go flying in and hit the Canadian pilot with Safeguard.

"Cassandra, you ok?" I asked, ignoring the enemy IS to turn and check on her.

"Y-Yeah. I'm more worried about what Mom's gona say about this when she hears it." She said, giving a half-hearted laugh. "James… can you do something for me?"

"Sure." I said immediately. Casandra's eyes turned cold and serious.

"Kick that bitch's ass for me."

"With pleasure." I smiled at the Canadian pilot. Not a normal smile, but a smile that said 'I'm going to thoroughly fuck you up for hurting my friends.' A private line opened up, and Chifuyu's face appeared.

"JAMES WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!"

"I'm subduing the rouge pilot so that you can get Cassandra out of the arena and to medical attention." I said sternly.

"We have personal waiting to do just that!" She argued.

"Then you should have sent them in when that bitch was about to kill Casandra." I replied, my voice filled with rage. "Get your people here soon and get Casandra out of her, or by god I'll use that grenade to end this."

"Humpf. Very well. Just know that you're going to face punishment for this."

"Whatever." I said before Yui cut the link. Immediately, a new one opened without visual.

"You are in my way. Move." Came a female voice. Clearly it was the Canadian pilot.

"And let you hurt my friend? I'll die before that happens."

"So be it." The pilot said before firing a large rifle at me. Slamming Safeguard in front of me, I was surprised when I was actually pushed back from the blast. A quick look at the gun, and it was clear that it wasn't anything standard in the IS markets.

Charging forward, I swept my arm out when the pilot fired again. Most of the blast was deflected and let me keep running forward. Just as the pilot fired a third time, I deployed the safeguard on my other arm and pulled the same movement until a grenade was inside both Safeguards.

Yui quickly dropped both shields before the blast went off, preventing the full explosion from hitting me. Meanwhile, I got sent flying back into the stadium shield. Groaning as I got up, I quickly realized what I was up against.

'J that's a HMG Devastator .50 Caliber rifle with liquid Naquadah tipped rounds. The grenade is also Naquadah enhanced!' Yui said, coming to the same realization as I did.

'I know. I just remembered hearing Carter say that IS had Stargate tech.'

'What are you going to do?'

"OPPRESSOR!" I yelled. Yui, understanding what I was thinking, activated the necessary systems.

The Mark V started changing. Flashes of light appeared all over as armor plates were equipped, while both Safeguard bars returned to their slots. After a few seconds, the changes had finished, leaving me in a much better armored IS.

Thankfully, the Oppressor was one of the few alterations that were up and running, and one of my personal favorites. The extra armor, and with it came additional shield emitters, gave me extreme explosive resistance and nearly double my normal shields without any serious changes in appearances. Mostly, the suit just looked bulkier, though plates had been put over the Safeguard bars so they couldn't deploy.

Shooting forward, I completely ignored the rounds hitting my shields as the Canadian pilot fired in precise bursts. When she fired a grenade at me, I shocked her by grabbing it and throwing it right back at her. She dodged to the left, only to get hit by a grenade of my own.

As the pilot flew through the air, two Eradicator SMG's flashed into my hands. Specially modified to fire energy blasts similar to my repulsors, but at a much faster rate. Turning immediately, I lit up the Canadian Predator as it flew and crashed, continuing to fire at it despite the dust in the air from said crash.

Suddenly, a golden energy blast shot out of the dust cloud. It being a relatively fast projectile, I only managed to dodge a direct hit, but was quickly horrified to see that the energy blast had BYPASED the shields entirely and impacted my left shoulder.

'J! Are you ok?' Yui asked, just as startled as I was that the blast hadn't hit the shields.

'I'm fine. How's the damage?' I asked as I continued to fire into the dust cloud while dodging more golden energy blasts.

'Negligible. Most of the energy had dissipated due to the armor we added. No damage to the shields, though that doesn't matter since those blasts can shoot through them.' Yui answered. 'J, Chi-Chan just told me that Cassandra was evacuated and will be alright. The stands have also been evacuated. We don't have to hold back.'

'Good. Then let's go with THAT load-out.' I thought

'What, the chest laser? THAT'S NOT EVEN A WEAPON, LET ALONE A LOAD-OUT!' Yui yelled.

'Yui… I'm referring to the Buster Load-out.'

'But you told Chi-Chan that we wouldn't use it!' She argued.

'Yeah, but to be honest I REALLY want to see that thing go off, even if it scares me more than Chifuyu. Besides, everyone was evacuated.' I countered

'Fine…' Yui sighed. 'Loading it up now. Just be sure to have a direct line of sight so we don't miss.'

'I make no promises.' I said with a smirk as I dodged yet another golden blast.

The grenade launcher extended from my shoulder, slowly converting to its railgun form as I flew back to a… relatively safe distance. This was honestly going to hurt no matter what, but I saw no sense in needlessly hurting myself more.

After landing on the ledge of the hangar, the dust cloud finally dissipated. Standing in the center was the Canadian Predator pilot, looking like nothing interesting had happened. The railgun was charging up and was nearly ready to fire when the pilot, who had been facing the other hangar, turned around.

And as soon as he finished turning, I fired.

The blast shook the whole academy. Warning sirens and lights were going off and there was a large amount of screams coming from the distance. I couldn't see anything at the moment, everything was pitch black at the moment. I could tell my eyes were open, I was feeling myself blink after all, but I wasn't seeing anything.

Then a bright light lit the room. I thought I was dead for a second, but quickly realized it was just a flashlight. I still couldn't see much, but thankfully I could tell I was in the hanger I had been standing near before firing. How I ended up inside, and why it was so dark, I didn't know.

"Who are you?" I said, my voice cracking from the waves of pain washing over my body.

"James? James! Is that you?" The person holding the flashlight yelled. Her voice sounded familiar, but I was in too much pain to remember.

"Yeah… Its me…" I said weakly.

"Oh god!" She said before hugging me. It was only then that I recognized the accent and blond hair.

"Cecilia… Could you please not hug me so tightly?" I said through gritted teeth. "Kinda hurt all over."

"I-I'm sorry!" she said as more flashlights came into the room. She turned to them and waved them over. "Over here! James is injured!"

"It's not that… bad." I said. "Nothing like when I nearly died… or after the fight with that wackjob."

"Wait, you've nearly died before!" Cecilia yelled as I was put onto a stretcher.

"I'll explain another time." I said. "For now, can I just… get some rest?"

"Only if you promise to wake up again." Robert said as he walked in. Unfortunately I wasn't able to respond.

Because I passed out from the pain.

**AND THAT DOES IT FOR CHAPTER 6!**

**James: I'm surprised yet again. That turned out better than I hoped it would.**

**Yui: Yeah! It actually went smother than expected.**

**Gee. Thanks for the vote of confidence you two. Anyway, PLEASE let me know how I did with the fight scenes and leave critique. It's the only way I'll be able to get better and trust me, I want to get better. Before any of you ask or go telling me that Canada doesn't or does have a representative, I DON'T CARE. This is supposed to be different from the cannon story. I got a few PM's from people complaining saying the story wasn't following the story and that people were too different. I ADDRESSED THAT IN AN EARLIER CHAPTER PEOPLE, DON'T YELL AT ME!**

**James: I don't think he's stopping any time soon. –Loud ranting in the background.-**

**Yui: Yeah… I don't think so either. Should we end this for him?**

**James: Might as well. **

**James and Yui: SEE YOU ALL NEXT TIME! AND BE SURE TO LEAVE A REVIEW!**


	7. Halloween Special

**WHATS UP EVERYONE! I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY YOUR HALLOWEEN! Seeing as I'm posting this on Halloween, I dare say some of you have already guessed that it's a Halloween special. Well guess what.**

**James: YOUR WRONG!**

**No, you're the one who's wrong James. This ****_IS_**** a Halloween special.**

**James: CAN I BE IRONMAN?**

**Yui: CAN I BE A FAIRY?**

**…****So you both don't want anything to change?**

**James and Yui: NOPE!**

**Too bad. Now then, this being a special, its taking place a bit farther in the timeline than we currently are at. Some examples of this are that Laura is there, Charlotte is exposed as a female, James has a "different" IS (That will be explained a bit in the next chapter, so shut up and deal with it until you read the next proper chapter), and the group knows about the Stargate program, including Chifuyu. That SHOULD be it, but what do I know. I have yet to actually write this and it's the Monday the week of Halloween.**

**James: Lazy.**

**Yeah… Sorry guys. It was a last minute idea. ANYWAY, let's see what trouble James and Ichika can get into this time!**

**James: Why does it always have to be trouble? Why can't it ever be a calm episode? Preferably one where Chifuyu doesn't nearly kill me with her increasingly smaller objects.**

**Well, I'll give you a reprieve from that. At least this time.**

**James: Forgive me if I don't take you for your word.**

**Whatever. Now…**

**James, Yui, and I: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!**

**Chapter HS**

**HALLOWEEN SPECIAL**

"Hey James! Wait up!" Charlotte yelled as she ran to catch up with me.

"Sorry. Didn't know you were trying to catch up with me." I apologized. "What's up?"

"Um, I was wondering." She said, twiddling her fingers together. "Do you have a da-"

"What's that?" I asked, having not heard her. "Sorry, there was an explosion in the holding bays and I've been a bit hard of hearing."

"I asked if you had a date for the Halloween Dance." She said louder this time, blushing intensely as she spoke.

"Didn't even know there was going to be a dance." I admitted. "What's the dress code?"

"Dress code?"

"Yeah. What's allowed to be worn and what isn't." I explained.

"I don't think there is one."

"Well that's going to end horribly. Anyway to answer your question, no I don't have a date to the dance." I said. "You're the first one to ask me."

"Oh!" She said, perking up a bit at hearing this, but also having her blush intensify. "Well, do you want to go with me?"

"Sure. Why not." I said with a warm smile. "If I had known, I probably would have asked you anyway."

"Y-You would have?" she stammered.

"Yeah. This way I get to have some fun with you. It feels like I've been spending too much time with Tabane, Cecilia, and Casandra lately and not enough with you." I said honestly. "Just one condition."

"U-Um. W-What?"

"I get to pick your costume." I said with a devilish grin.

"S-Sure. Just don't pick something perverted…" She said with a heavy blush.

"Well I don't think anything could top you and Laura's cat costume incident." I said teasingly. Unfortunately, she nearly passed out from embarrassment, as she didn't know I knew about that. It had taken getting some SERIOUS blackmail on Ichika to get that juicy story out of him.

"H-HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THAT?" She questioned as she shot a piercing glare at me after recovering.

"By having some major blackmail on Ichika. He didn't like saying it, but I wanted some dirt on Laura. I wasn't expecting you to be involved in that." I said, grinning like an idiot.

"Please don't tell anyone." She begged, giving her most irresistible puppy eyes. Honestly I hadn't planned on telling anyone that I knew besides Laura, and only to have something to hang over her head, but that face was truly irresistible.

"Fine. But I refuse to give up my blackmail on Laura." I countered. "Not a single other soul."

"Ok, but you have to tell me what you have on Ichika as well."

"Deal, but not today. I'll tell you after the dance, ok?"

"Fine. Now what am I wearing?" She asked.

"Uh-Uh. That's a secret until the day of the dance." I said teasingly. "Rest assured, it will fit you no matter what, and we're going to be the best dressed."

**THE DAY OF HALLOWEEN, JAMES' ROOM**

"HEY REVEREND!" Chifuyu yelled as the door to my room crashed into the opposite wall. "YOU WANTED TO SEE ME?"

"Why the door?" I said, not even paying attention to her. "That's the third one this month."

"Eh-hem." She cleared her throat and tapped her foot, waiting for me.

"Right. Why is there no dress code?" I asked, still looking at the destroyed door.

"We never needed one before you guys came to the school." She answered.

"So you're telling me, that not once in the entire time the academy has been open, that no one had brought a guy as a date to the dance from outside?" I questioned. "Sorry, but that's damn right impossible."

"Well, there's that and we haven't felt the need to implement one. The girls during past years haven't made us need to create one."

"Huh. Go figure. A dance is the one time the girls at this academy are proper." I said, finally turning towards Chifuyu. "Aaaaaand why are you dressed as a maid?"

"You're lucky I'm in this damned outfit, or else your shields would be dead, just like you." She threatened. "To answer you, Robert… found something he shouldn't have and now I have to wear this so he will give it back."

"Riiiight… Well, that's all I wanted to… Do you hear static?"

"Yes. I thought it was just me." Chifuyu admitted. "It gets louder at times, but then gets softer."

"Probably some kids playing pranks…" I tried convincing myself… and failed.

"No, this isn't a prank." Chifuyu muttered, walking over to the window. "I've been having a bad feeling all day now. Something's not right."

"But what?" I said as I joined her at the window. Suddenly, a shiver went down our spins and I noticed something wrong. "Chifuyu?"

"You feel that also?"

"Yes, but do you notice anything… strange?" I asked.

"No."

"You aren't surprised by the trees over there?"

"What trees…. Ok I see what you mean."

Seemingly out of nowhere, the ENTIRE SCHOOL had been surrounded by a dense forest. An erry feeling filled me as I continued looking at it.

'Yui, you seeing this?' I asked.

'Seeing what?' Yui answered from the Cafeteria where she was eating with Laura and Cecilia.

'Is there a forest of trees outside?'

'…'

'…'

'James what the hell is going on?' Yui asked, her voice filled with confusion and surprise.

'Yui, answer me. Is. There. A forest. Outside. The. Window?'

'Yes. Now what's going on?'

"We don't know." I said out loud, letting Chifuyu know I was talking to Yui. "See if anyone else can see them, then get everyone to the dance hall. I don't want anyone going outside."

"Got it J." Yui replied via a radio I had on me.

"Expecting trouble?" Chifuyu asked.

"A forest seemingly appeared out of nowhere and we didn't realize it immediately. Plus I work for an organization that fights aliens, so YES IM EXPECTING TROUBLE!" I all but yelled. "Grab a sword or something. We're going to check out that forest."

"Who died and put you in charge? Last I knew, I was the school staff member, and you were a student." She argued.

"A student who has experience fighting aliens and other non-terrestrial creatures, and who has access to the quickest means of escape for the entire student body." I growled. "Now, if your don't having your little pissing match, we can either go out there and see if there's a threat, or we can sit her and argue some more and potentially have students killed. Your call."

To her credit, she didn't blow a fuse after I chewed her out. (NO DAMNIT NOT LIKE THAT!) No, instead she pulled out her phone and had all the staff and faculty members gather everyone in the dance hall until further notice. With that, we headed towards the nearest exit, and stepped out into the increasingly dark forest.

Robert's voice had come over the radio shortly after we reached the door to go outside. He said he had seen something from the faculty building and had armed himself before saying he was going to lead the rest of the faculty members to the main building. Of course, Robert being who he is, commented that he "would have loved to see Chi-Chan fighting in her maid outfit."

I was feeling a lot less scared of whatever was out there now, and became more afraid of the demon I was walking out with.

"James." She said suddenly.

"You're going to kill Robert. I know." I said. "Sure he deserves it, but cut him some slack. He's just trying to lighten the mood."

"Not that you idiot!" She said before hitting me. "Can't you see its getting darker?"

"Not really. My replacement eye and contact lenses allow me to see in anything up to pitch black." I replied, muttering a silent prayer of thanks to Tabane.

"Well give me a flashlight. It's getting too dark to see." She said, then nodded in appreciation when I materialized a high-powered military grade flashlight. The damn thing could easily light up the entire forest.

Yet something was making it only work like some shitty flashlight from a horror game.

"Does this thing not have good batteries?" She complained.

"No, It's powered from my IS core. As long as you're within a twenty mile radius of me, that thing should work fine. Something else is causing… What's that?" I asked, spotting a shade of white in the distance.

"Let's take a look." She said as we started to walk over to it. Only when I got a good look at it did I realize just what we were up against.

"Slender man." I muttered. "Well that explains a bit."

"What?"

"Well, it explains the forest to an extent, and it explains why it's so un-naturally dark and why the flashlight won't work properly." I said. "But now that we've read that note, we've gone from the hunters to the hunted."

"It will take more than some faceless freak with tentacles to make me go from the hunter to the hunted." She said.

"Romeo-Whiskey, this is Juliet-Romeo, We have confirmation on the hostile presence."

"_Say a-ZZZ-in, your bre-ZZZZ-p_"

'Yui, can you relay a message to Robert? Radios are shit out here.' I said mentally.

'…'

'Yui?'

'…'

"Well great. We won't be getting any backup. Radios are shit and my mental link with Yui is being interrupted. I can't get ahold of anyone." I informed Chifuyu.

"What was that?" She said, suddenly turning around and raising her sword, not just a normal sword, but an IS sword. With no assistance from an IS.

"I didn't hear anything, and I have somewhat better hearing." I said, also turning around and looking.

"Summon your IS. See if you can use your radar to find it." She ordered.

"Alright." I said before muttering "H.A.V.O.C."

What would have been a bright flash was unceremoniously dull, as my suit quickly formed around me. Instead of it being its normal black and white color scheme, it was now in a woodland camo paint.

"Damn. It's even effecting the light from the summoning. What's the radar look like?" she asked.

"Nothing, and I have it boosted to a mile in all directions." I said.

"Damn that thing." Chifuyu muttered.

"You don't understand." I said. "I'm getting NOTHING. Not a single life sign for a mile. Including at the school and well… where you're standing."

"But I'm only a few feet away from you." She half questioned, half stated.

"I can't pick up my own life signs. Radar is a bust. Still, this is probably better protection than what I had on before."

"We need a plan, preferably one that doesn't have us split up."

"I see two courses of action." I said. "The first is that we head back to the school and defend it against Slendy. The second is we continue out here and find the remaining pieces of paper, hopefully drawing him away from the school and into a fight with us where we hopefully can take him out."

"I'm all for the second plan." I added before she could decide.

"As am I. Hopefully this will keep him away from the students." She said as we both started to wander further into the forest.

Apparently, Slendy thought it would be funny to occasionally let my suit ping a life sign. Whether it was my own, Chifuyu's, or students at the school, it made me jump. Mostly because it had such a loud ping every time a new life sign was detected. Despite turning it off, it continued to make the loud pinging noise.

It was only after we had collected the third note, with no signs of Slendy, that I realized that the pinging WAS off, and that the life sign on my radar WASN'T mine.

Spinning around, I fired a burst of rounds from my wrist mounted SMG's, upon HEARING them collide with what I assumed was flesh, I continued firing until I heard a roar that sent a chill down my spine. Utilizing my sudden lack of fire, one of Slendy's tentacles shot forward and wrapped around me, completely bypassing my shields.

Thankfully, Chifuyu was quick on her feet and cut through Slendy's tentacle with a single swing. Another roar of pain later, and Slendy decided to back off… for now at least.

"For having a H.A.V.O.C. frame, you didn't cause much damage." Chifuyu teased as she poked the severed tentacle.

"Just testing the waters." I countered. "And please don't tell me you're actually enjoying this."

"Maybe I am." She replied with a devilish grin.

"Right… Man Robert has a strange taste in women."

"The same could be said of you. Tabane, Casandra, and Charlotte to name just a few." She teased.

"Hey, I'm not dating any of them." I countered. "I'm hanging out with all of them as much as I can so no one feels left out."

"Can't stay that way forever James." She said. "Someday, you're going to have to make the decision, or they'll all move on."

"I just don't want to hurt them. I'm not dense like Ichika is. I know they care for me. I just don't know how I feel towards them." I said. "Well, assuming we even get out of this hell-hole of a forest."

"Yes, we should return to gathering those notes." She agreed before we started walking again, keeping a higher guard that before.

Slowly but steadily, we made our way around the forest, trying to get a feel for its size as we went. Along the way we had a few brief run-ins with Slendy, but he always retreated after, for the most part, startling us.

What was really annoying was that damn static. Chifuyu could only hear it, but due to my eye and contact lenses, I had a hard time seeing whenever I got a look at Slendy. Eventually, we turned more inward and promptly found two more notes. It was then that Slendy decided to really start attacking.

Surprisingly, it was from a distance.

He would launch his tentacles towards us, occasionally ensnaring one of us until the other cut through it, Chifuyu with her sword and me with my built in laser chainsaw. After realizing that tactic wasn't working, he instead sent his tentacles into the ground. When they emerged, we realized just how powerful Slendy really was.

"Damn it! Where did these come from! The bastard only sent one tentacle into the ground, not twenty!" I yelled as I cut and shot my way through his tentacles. "And honestly, why tonight! I get its Halloween, but what's so special about this night that made him attack!?"

"Don't know, don't care!" Chifuyu yelled back as she cut down the tentacles, only for two to replace each one she cut down. "Just keep fighting! He has to have a limit!"

"Fuck that!" I yelled as I summoned a sniper rifle. "Cover me for a second!"

"On it!" She replied as a new wave of black tentacles arose from the ground.

I waited, lining up a shot strait at the black suited bastards head, but every time I had a clear shot it was quickly blocked by a new tentacle. Yelling in frustration, I simply started firing, the rounds causing the black mass to wither into the ground for a second to regenerate.

Switching from the single-shot bolt-action to a semi-automatic, I started firing rapidly. Tentacle after tentacle fell to the power of the rifle, and finally I got a round to connect with Slendy's head. The force of the round going through his skull tossed him back and he landed in a heap against a tree.

"You get him?" Chifuyu asked, walking over now that the tentacles had stopped attacking.

"I sure hope so." I said grimly as I kneeled over Slendy's body and checked for a pulse. As soon as my fingers touched his neck however, his whole body disappeared.

Along with the whole forest.

"Nothing is ever simple… is it?" I said, standing back up. "Robert? Yui? Anyone there?" I asked over the radio.

"_Yo, James! Where have you been?_" Robert answered.

"Killing slender man… I think." I answered.

"_You think?_" He questioned.

"Well, his body just… disappeared. That along with the entire forest." I explained.

"_Good enough for me. It safe for everyone to come out?_"

"Should be, but let's keep everyone in the main building. Just in case."

"_Rodger that. Alright everyone! You're free to go, but please stay within the main building…_" He proceeded to tell everyone. I simply started walking towards the main door when Chifuyu jumped on my back.

"Ok… What the hell has gotten into you?"

"I just want to pick on Robert for making me wear this damn costume, so can you carry me back?" She asked, her kind smile betraying her sinister reasoning.

"If it makes Robert upset, then any time." I said with a laugh before letting her adjust so I could fly us back. No sense in walking the whole way back, seeing as we appeared in the city after the forest disappeared. Thankfully, it had been in a back ally instead of in some café or in the middle of a street.

A FEW MINUTES LATER, AT THE ACADEMY

I landed gracefully at the main entrance, only to be greeted by a large crowd of students and staff members, all applauding and cheering for Chifuyu and I. I never really liked getting attention for doing things I felt were normal, so I simply waved and started walking in.

Chifuyu, on the other hand, got swarmed by the students. Most of them were in awe that she fought without an IS, but all of them were really focused on how she looked in the maid costume. I had more than a few laughs at the scene, and Roberts face as I landed while holding her princess style.

After my armor was back in storage, I too got swarmed, but unlike Chifuyu, it was very manageable, mostly due to it being just those I normally hung out with. The most notable of the group was charlotte, who enveloped me in a hug as soon as my armor vanished.

"James! Are you alright?" She asked, her head buried in my chest, which I thought was strange since I was only six Centimeters taller than her.

"I'm fine. Not a single scratch on me." I said, giving her a reassuring hug.

"So… Slender man…" Robert said, giving me a quizzical look. "Why don't I believe that?"

"Because I got to carry the girl you like." I teased. "Yui, can you access the suits mission recorders?"

"Yup. Already done." She said, giving Robert a glance. "The mission recorders check out."

"Please tell me that we will be able to see them." Laura half asked, half demanded. "I wish to see the instructor and yourself in battle of this creature."

"Sure. Why not. Heck, we could probably get it to play for the whole school. It is Halloween after all. They'd think it was just some staged movie probably."

"Yeah… I'm not so sure I want the school to watch my sister fight in a maid outfit…" Ichika muttered.

"Yes, I don't think that would be very decent." Cecilia agreed.

"Well, only Chifuyu and I have the mission recordings, and since you commented on it, I won't be showing it to everyone. Just you guys. Can't speak for her though." I said.

"Well at least it would be her choice." Ichika sighed. Shortly after walking away, Houki, Rin, and Cecilia after giving me one last worried glance, all walked after him, trying to get him as their date, despite it being only an hour away from the dace.

Laura was pestering me about the tape still, but after a quick mention of cat pajamas, she suddenly coughed and said she needed to get ready for the party. Robert simply walked off to keep his eyes on Chifuyu, leaving only me and Charlotte, who was still hugging me.

Sighing, I picked her up instead of asking her to let go. I knew she was enjoying hugging me, so I let her have her moment of joy as I carried her to my room.

'Ohhh, going to have some fun before the party?' Yui teased. Right… Yui was in my head again.

'Only so we can get our costumes on.' I replied. 'You know I don't think like that Yui.'

'Still fun to tease you though.' She said before being blocked out by me. I gave a silent prayer of thanks to Tabane for teaching me how to do that, and properly shield my thoughts. Yui and I had been a bit distant since then, but I had realized just how often I had actually heard her thoughts, and now didn't. But that wasn't a problem tonight. It was a party, and no one was going to be kept from their fun.

Well, as long as it stayed decent if I was involved.

"Were here." I said, almost pealing Charlotte off of me after entering my room.

"Sorry about that." She apologized with a heavy blush. "It's just that… I ha-"

"Relax. It's fine." I interrupted her with a smile. "If it hadn't been, I would have said something."

"No, I want to say this." She sighed. "You remember how I've only spent roughly two hours with my dad?"

"Yeah. He's still on my shit list." I muttered.

"He's a good man, he's just a horrible father." She explained. "But during those two hours, he held me like you did. It felt… safe. Like I belonged there."

She wasn't able to continue for two reasons. The tears that appeared in her eyes and rolled down her face, and the tight embrace I was giving her.

"Charlotte, you don't have to be alone anymore." I whispered. "You have me, Ichika, Robert, and all of our friends by your side. As far as I'm concerned, were more your family than your father will ever be."

"But only if you want us to be." I continued as she started crying and hugged me back. "Each one of us loves you in our own way. We look after each other, we defend each other, and if need be, we cry for each other. If that's not a family, then I don't know what is."

"Aww, how sweet." A far to familiar voice cooed from the corner. Charlotte, startled by the sudden voice, pushed me away and ended up falling onto the bed. I bumped into the desk, only to rebound forward and land with my face someplace I wouldn't have put it voluntarily.

Right between her legs.

"JAMES GET OUT OF THERE!" Charlotte yelled as she started hitting me. Quickly complying, I rolled out of the way of most of her fists, a heavy blush on each of our faces.

"Ohh, I didn't realize you two were that close already!" The voice pouted. "I might need to start visiting more often to keep you two apart!"

"Tabane, what are you doing here? And how did you even get in?" I asked, getting up from the floor that I had crashed into after rolling to avoid Charlotte's fists.

"I just wanted to check up on you James-Kun!" She cheered, grabbing me and pulling me into a hug. Had I not been dazed by the last few seconds, I probably would have escaped. "And I also wanted to see how Houki-Chan is doing with her conquest!"

"Right… Getting with Ichika." I said, regaining most of my senses and escaping her hug. "Well why don't you stay for the dance then? It would give you the chance to spy on him."

"Only if I get to have a dance with you!" She pouted.

"Uhhh." I stammered, looking at Charlotte for help. Unfortunately, she was still blushing profusely and glaring daggers at me, so I figured that I wouldn't be getting any help from her. "I guess we can have a dance. But I'm going with Charlotte, so she gets the first one."

"Aww, such a gentleman." She said, looking over to Charlotte and giving her a wink, just outside my vision. "Don't worry, I won't keep him for long. I have lots of spying to do!"

"R-Right…" Charlotte managed to stammer. "S-So James. What are our costumes?"

"Ah, those!" I said as I walked over to my dresser and opened the top drawer, only to reach under it and remove a hidden panel. On it were two spiral shaped devices, each one a purple-blue color with a red sphere in the center.

"Ohhh, I like your style!" Tabane exclaimed, familiar with the devices.

"These are… well I'm not sure what the SGC is calling them. Anyway they allow the wearer to change his or her appearance to anything they want. Normally the user would have to have the person they wanted to change into knocked out and put into a special harness, but the techs at the SGC managed to alter these two." I explained.

"So, how does that let us be the best dressed?" Charlotte asked. "And how good is the change?"

"Let me show you." I said with a smile as I put the device on, changing flawlessly into Tabane, since she was in the room already. "See! It even changes the person's voice and allows the person to mimic the original's actions!"

"Hey! That sounds nothing like me!" Tabane complained. "Why are you picking on me James-Kun?"

"Wow. That's perfect!" Charlotte exclaimed, forgetting her earlier embarrassment. She got up and walked over to me. "Just how good is this though? Is it disrupted via touch?"

"No idea! Want to find out?" I cheered before grabbing Charlottes hand and placing it right were my costumes… breasts were. Not the best decision in hind sight. I should have just hugged her. Her reaction, however, was not what I was expecting.

"Wow!" She said. "The feel so real!"

"Ok, now I'm worried." I exclaimed as I reached up and removed the device, changing back into my normal appearance. "You took that WAY to calmly."

"Well you haven't been attacked by Rin in the bath." Charlotte complained.

"…Right. So anyway, here's yours." I said, handing her the device. "Just think of what you want to change into, and your all set."

Charlotte, in a flash of sudden inspiration, put the device on and changed. At first, I didn't realize what she had changed into, but that was just because she didn't look like she changed. After a second, I realized the genius of her costume.

"THAT'S AMAZING!" Tabane and I both yelled.

"Is it really?" She asked, turning around in a very odd way that only her costume would allow.

"HOLY CRAP WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT!" I said, still amazed at her appearance.

Instead of changing completely, she had decided to change how she looked to others. It sounds confusing, but she had somehow flattened herself and appeared in a two dimensional from, with a heavy black outline around her that made it look like she was from a retro styled six-bit video game that had been given a better processor to allow for more complex animations. When she turned, she literally went flat and almost disappeared completely from view, with only a black line giving her away.

"You really think it's good?" She asked, her animated appearance clearly expressing its worry.

"Charlotte, you impressed Tabane with that." I said, glancing at Tabane who still was staring in awe. "I think you will get best dressed tonight. No exceptions."

"What about you?" She asked, eager to get the attention off of herself. "What are you going to be?"

"Well I have two options. Since were going together I could copy you, or go with what I had originally planned." I explained. "I'll show you the last one first."

"Ok." She said before a dark flash filed the room. Standing tall, I now wore a black-purple robe that covered all of my body, with a red trim around my hood that was pulled over my head. Instead of a face, I had what looked like a dark, water-like appearance that constantly shifted.

"W-What is that?" Charlotte asked, her animated appearance showing she was somewhat afraid.

"This," I said in a much deeper, and slightly robotic, voice, "Is the appearance of Anubis. One of the greater System Lords of the Goa'uld."

"Well, it is pretty scary." She muttered. "Let me see what you would look like in my type of costume."

"Alright." I said before a strangely pixilated burst of light covered me. Standing in front of her now was myself, my school uniform on instead of my usual attire of a grey jacket with a white undershirt and jeans. The whole outfit was extremely pixilated, but that was to be expected since that's what we were going for.

"You both look great!" Tabane yelled suddenly, breaking free of her trance. "James, go as that instead of that scary costume!"

"Fine." I sighed. "Well, the dance starts in half an hour, but the doors should be open. Ready to go?"

"Yup!" Charlotte yelped happily before her avatar-like body latching onto my arm. If she hadn't been in her current form, her breasts would have been squeezing my arm and we both knew it. Her expression was one of sadness and relief, probably because she didn't get to see me embarrassed, but didn't embarrass herself.

"I'll be along in a minute." Tabane shooed us out. "I need to get into my costume!"

"Alright. Just don't be late!" I yelled to her as Charlotte and I walked out the door.

"I wonder what she's going to be." Charlotte questioned out loud.

"Some sort of rabbit. I just really hope she doesn't do some playboy bunny costume. Chances are that's being done to death tonight." I commented dryly. "With guys at the school now, chances are most of the girls will try to impress us guys."

"So… You're not into that sort of thing?" Charlotte asked nervously.

"I'm not saying that. I just think that a bunch of girls doing the more or less the same thing is pointless. The goal is to get their attention, not join the faceless masses." I explained. "Take your costume for example. Regardless of the fact I gave it to you, you're the one that's making it stand out, and it clearly shows your creativity, rather than you going with what everyone else is doing."

"That's true I guess." She admitted as we got closer to the dance hall. "But if everyone is doing it, then something must be right about it."

"If everyone were jumping off of bridges, would you say the same thing?" I asked. "Just because everyone is doing it doesn't mean anything other than that it's trending."

"You're surprisingly insightful about this." She said, looking up at me. "It's kind of nice."

"Kind of?" I asked teasingly. "You wound me madam."

She laughed in her normal, light hearted way, and I realized just how much I had been missing this. Between hanging out with Cecilia, helping Casandra and Tabane, IS matches, School, and the odd mission off world, I hadn't had much time to be with Charlotte. It surprised me how much I had missed hearing her laugh, seeing her pout from my teasing, and watching her blush whenever something embarrassing happened.

I was so deep in thought about this that I didn't realize we were at the door to the dance hall until she pinched my arm. After a quick yelp of pain, followed by her innocent-yet-guilty giggling, I opened the door for her. Despite us being roughly twenty minutes early, the walk over her taking longer than expected, the music was loud and there were cheers coming from those who were already there.

"After you." I half yelled over the music. Smiling, she grabbed my arm and pulled me in so I wouldn't be stuck holding the door for the crowd that appeared behind us. "Thanks for saving me there."

"No problem" She said with a laugh. "You did say I get your first dance."

"And just like that I'm worried about what Tabane is wearing again." I muttered, leading her to the punch bowl. One quick sniff and I knew it was already heavily spiked. "I don't recommend you drink any of that unless they bring out a new one."

"Yeah, I think I'll stick to water this evening." She commented, getting a whiff of the punch. "Honestly, why do they even have these if they don't watch what gets put into it?"

"Part of the experience." I said. "Oh, there's Ichika and Houki. Looks like she's the winner of the war over who gets to bring Ichika as a date."

"I wonder how she won." She muttered. The only reason I heard her was due to the music finally dropping down to reasonable levels.

"Probably beat them to death with her Shinai. Damn thing is deadly." I said, remembering all the times I had been hit by her. She wasn't as strong as Chifuyu, but she was defiantly in the number two slot. "I know I wouldn't go to war with her over something she wanted."

Walking in, it was easy to see what Ichika was dressed up as, and he had a guarantee of not being copied since there were only three guys at the school. Dressed in a black suit with an equally black cape, the inside of said cape being a blood red. He also had red lips and pale skin, though it looked more from fear and blood loss than makeup at the moment. When he replied to a comment I didn't hear from Houki, it showed the fangs that he had put into his mouth.

If you don't get who he was dressed up as by now, its Dracula.

Houki was, oddly enough, not dressed up at all it seemed. She wasn't in her school uniform at least. Instead, she wore a plain white kimono with a red tint embroidery around the seams to help it stand out, and her hair wasn't tied up like it normally was. It was only when she turned that I realized she was dressed up as a Kitsune in human form, as evident from the fox tail coming out from a hole in the back. It looked good on her, in all honesty. She wasn't showing off, but she wasn't keeping it simple either. As Charlotte and I walked over to say hi, they spotted us.

"JAMES? CHARLOTTE?!" The both asked in shock.

"Yup. Great costumes right?" I said, my animated face showing just how pleased I was to have this reaction on people.

"IT'S AMAZING!" Ichika continued. "No offence to everyone else, but if you two don't win best costume, I don't know who would!"

"I'm going to ignore that, Ichika." Houki glared at him, a dark aura surrounding her before she turned back to us. "Although, if anyone deserves to win, it's you two. How did you manage to do that?"

"Like this." I said, reaching up and removing the device and changing back into my normal self, Charlotte doing the same "These little devices let us change our appearance to whatever we want. I'm defiantly using these every year for Halloween from now on."

"Hey, James." Ichika said, pulling me away for a second while the girls kept talking. "Do you think I could get one of those? Even if its just for next year?"

"Sorry man, but to my knowledge, these were the only spares at the SGC. I heard their trying to make some through backwards engineering, but it's taking time." I apologized. "Oh, and a word of warning for you. Your date's older sister is here."

"Oh great." He muttered. "This could end well, or horribly. No middle ground."

"So…" I said, turning around to face the girls, but remaining far enough away so they wouldn't hear our conversation. "Houki looks like she's dressed to impress. Can't imagine who thought."

"She does look great." Ichika agreed. "And despite wearing her school uniform in her costume, Charlotte looks amazing as well."

"Were going to get screwed over sometime soon if we don't start stepping up our game dude." I sighed. "I just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings in the process."

"I can understand that." Ichika sighed with me as we started walking back to the group.

"Oh, Ichika, be a gentleman and get us some punch please." Houki said to Ichika as we rejoined the girls.

"Sure thing Houki." He said before walking off again. Charlotte looked like she was going to say something, but I shook my head.

"If he doesn't smell it, it's his own fault for whatever happens." I whispered to her, only for her to smile and nod in understanding. "So, Houki. You look great this evening. Trying to impress a certain dense rock?"

"Is it really that obvious?" Houki asked, somewhat put down.

"Only since the beginning of the school year." I replied. "But this _is_ Ichika were talking about."

"Great." She sighed. "Why can't that idiot see it?"

"Maybe it's because you're trying to kill him half the time for things he couldn't help?" Charlotte half joked. "He is very accident prone, and I doubt he has any motivation to do half the things he does with how dense he is."

"Think I need to tone it down?" Houki half asked, half sighed.

"Yes." I said rather bluntly. "Between you, Rin, and Cecilia's tempters, I'm amazed Ichika has survived as long as he has."

"James!" Charlotte scolded, hitting me. "Don't be rude!"

"No, he's right." Houki admitted. "I just don't like it when he doesn't think his words through."

"I'll give you this, he did deserve the beating when he tried to defend himself the first night here and happened to have your bra on the end of your spare Shinai." I said with a laugh. "I couldn't help but laugh as he told me about it. I mean, just how bad of luck can one guy get?"

"Yeah." Houki laughed as well, which seemed to brighten the mood. "There are times I almost can't keep a straight face with how ridiculous some of his situations are."

"He is unique, I'll give him that." Charlotte added. "Oh, and don't drink the punch. It's already heavily spiked."

"And you didn't tell Ichika why?" She asked.

"Because if that idiot can't smell it and know something's wrong, then he doesn't deserve to be told." I said simply. "But seriously, that stuff is potent! It's probably half alcohol at this point."

"HELLO EVERYBODY AND WELCOME TO THE BEST HALLOWEEN EVER!" A too familiar voice yelled over the sound system, getting a roaring cheer of approval. "MOST OF YOU KNOW ME BY NOW, BUT FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T, MY NAME IS ROBERT AND I'M YOUR DJ FOR THE NIGHT!"

Looking over to the DJ booth with a sigh, I immediately picked Robert out of the crowd of girls surrounding him. He was wearing a full business suit, but with a full helmet in the shape of a mouse head. It was pitch black, and instead of normal eyes and a mouth, there were LED screens in each location, giving him a terrifying appearance as they eyes and mouth that were there would look where he was looking and move when he was talking. Suddenly, they went out and the eyes were replaced by D in his left eye (as in my left as I faced him) and a J in the other, while his mouth was replaced with his name. This lasted a few minutes before the changed again to white X's for the eyes and a white smile.

"What idiot put him in charge of the music?" I muttered, causing Houki and Charlotte to laugh.

"I think he's doing a fine job so far." A new voice came from the crowd. Cecilia and Casandra walked up and greeted us. It had been Casandra who had made the comment and was currently dressed up as a nurse, but not the nice good looking nurse. No, this was the nurse who enjoyed seeing her patients suffer as she cut off their limbs, as evident by the replica bone saw and blood spatter over her clothes.

Cecilia had decided to dress up as a female knight, wearing what could only be described as a blue and red battle dress, the dress ending at her knees with replica armor plating around it to offer 'protection.' Her hair was tied up in a similar way that Houki tied hers up, but not as long since she had shorter hair than Houki. She also had a decent sized broadsword that appeared to be modeled after the traditional image of Excalibur.

"James, Charlotte, where are your costumes?" Cecilia asked.

"Oh, right." I said and put the device back on at the same time as Charlotte. A decent sized flash of light later, and everyone was staring at us and our appearance.

"James, everyone's staring…" Charlotte muttered as she clung to me, clearly nervous about what everyone thought.

"Don't worry." I calmed her. "Look at their faces, there in awe."

I had just enough time to finish my sentence before EVERYONE started talking at once, all of it at Charlotte and I. Most of it was complements, things like "You look great" and "I'm so jealous, you two are amazing," but there were also the few fangirls who were obsessed with paring's. To my great dismay, Rin, who had walked up to us during the commotion, was one of those people.

"So, James and Charlotte eh?" She said with an apprising look on her face, her hand on her chin. "I think you two would be a great couple!"

"Look what you did Rin. Charlotte is broken now!" I chastised her while waving my hand in front of charlotte's face, trying to get her to snap out of her embarrassed trance. "Besides, aren't you after Ichika, like Houki, Laura, Tatenashi, and Cecilia? Id worry more on that than shipping others."

"T-T-That's not the Point!" She tried to defend herself. "B-Besides, you have your own group of girls after you!"

"Yes, but we have an understanding between us." I muttered, not loud enough for her to hear.

"What was that?" She glared at me, a dark aura surrounding her.

"Nothing pipsqueak." I said, patting her head. "Now then, Ichika is taking FAR too long at the punch bowl so I think ill go rescue him. Charlotte… try to come out of that trance of yours."

With that, I left Charlotte with the girls just as laura walked up dressed as a mummy. In all honesty, it looked like she was wearing the same outfit she first wore to the trip to the beach. Rin had dressed up as a Chinese dragon, and was using other students in the back to support the 'tail.'

Ichika had managed to get surrounded by girls ALREADY drunk from the punch, and each one was dressed in those damned playboy bunny outfits. If Ichika was a lot older, he would have looked like Huge Heffner.

"Ichika, what are you doing! You know Houki is going to kill you if she sees you acting like a playboy!" I yelled over the music that was now blaring through the speakers. People had been moving to the dance floor, and some were actually dancing to the beat quite well.

"Why are these girls acting like their drunk?" Ichika yelled. "James, can you please save me?"

"Sure… HEY HOUKI! ICHIKA"S HITTING ON SOME RANDOM GIRLS!" I yelled, and started running away as the room flooded with killing intent. "ICHIKA, RUN FOR YOUR LIFE MAN!"

"I HATE YOU!" He said as he broke free of the girls just before they were sent flying by a single swing from Houki's Shinai.

"Houki!" I said, getting her attention. "He actually didn't, but was overwhelmed by drunk girls! You two can go have a moment now if you don't kill him!"

"When I get back, you're dead!" She said before giving me a kiss on the cheek and whispering, "But thank you."

"Don't mention it. No, seriously. Don't. Mention. It. Ever."

"No problem. Now I have an idiot to catch and kill." She said before running after Ichika.

With that situation solved, I walked over to the group and told them what had happened, those after Ichika cringed when I said Houki was going to kill him, but Charlotte laughed, seemingly out of her trance.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" Robert's voice came over the speakers. "THE SCHOOL REQUIRES AT LEAST TWO SLOW DANCES, SO WERE GOING TO GET THOSE OUT OF THE WAY! FIND A PARTNER AND HAVE A GOOD TIME!"

"Well everyone, I owe Charlotte my first dance, so I'll see you all later." I said and walked off to the dance floor with Charlotte. "Want take the costumes off for the dance? I honestly have no clue how we could with them on."

"Sure." She said while laughing at my cluelessness and removing the device. "You don't know how to slow dance, do you?"

"Never done it before." I replied, taking off my device as well. "So I meant it when I said you get my first dance."

"Well now I feel special." She cooed in my ear as she got herself into position. "Just follow my lead, and you'll do fine."

"Yes mam." I replied with a gulp as she guided my hands to her waist and started moving. After stepping on her feet a few times, which I apologized for constantly, I managed to understand enough of this type of dancing to at least stop squishing her toes.

As we danced, I happened to noticed everyone who were dancing together. Cecilia and Casandra had paired up, almost like they were an item in some other reality. Laura and Rin had paired up, but each of them were clearly finding it strange.

Houki and Ichika had reappeared, and were dancing with each other. Ichika seemed to be fine, so I assumed Houki took the discussion earlier to heart and didn't beat him senseless. When I looked up to the DJ booth, I noticed Robert was absent. Confused, I sighed in relief when I finally spotted him dancing with Chifuyu, each one of them enjoying the other's company.

"James?" Charlotte said, looking at me curiously. "What are you looking at?"

"Just seeing who everyone else ended up with. Honestly, im surprised by Cecilia and Casandra together." I answered. "But sorry, I guess I got distracted."

"Its ok." She said with a warm smile. "Just being here is enough for me."

We continued dancing until the song finished, Charlotte leaning in and resting her head on my chest as we danced. It was surprisingly nice, and after the song had finished, we lingered like that for as long as she liked. I remembered what she said when she had hugged me earlier, and I wanted her to be the one to decide when we were done.

Robert, after returning to the DJ booth, had noticed this and played a second slow song, commenting that he had just been informed that they were going to have to do a few more songs like that than expected. I knew it was just his way of helping me and Charlotte out, but it didn't go unappreciated.

As the second song finished, Charlotte had let go of me and said I could go find Tabane for my dance with her. Despite knowing she wouldn't remove her robot rabbit ears, I couldn't find her anywhere. I was just about to go back to my room and check there for her when Charlotte jumped me with a hug.

"Charlotte? What's up?" I asked before smelling her breath. "Have you been drinking?"

"Hiya James-Kun!" She said, but the voice was not hers.

"Tabane? What are you doing dressed up as Charlotte?"

"I had a spare one of those devices you and her used, and I wanted to confuse you with there being two of her!" She explained before pouting. "But by the time I got here, you had finished your dance with her and I couldn't, so I got some punch."

"You know that it was spiked, right?" I asked cautiously, having no experience or knowledge on what Tabane was like when she was drunk, but fearing it would be more terrifying than her normal self.

"It was? All well, it takes more than a bit of alcohol to get me to do anything strange." She said with a hiccup. "Unless it was you asking."

'Oh god.' I thought. 'This could end HORIBLY.'

'Want me to distract her?' Yui said out of nowhere.

'if you could. And where have you been?' I asked.

'Chi-Chan wanted me on security to make sure no one, or anyTHING, hurts someone.' She replied.

'Fair enough, though shouldn't you be able to do that while having fun at with everyone?'

'Yes, but I'm trying to find whoever spiked the punch, and they covered their tracks well.' She explained. 'I'm currently at a dead end, so I can quick help you out.'

'THANK YOU YUI YOU'RE A LIFESAVER!' I said to her as she appeared, as me, right next to me. 'Ok… that's creepy.'

"Whaaa? Two James? Maybe I have been drinking too much…" She said with a sudden swaying motion.

"DO you want to lay down?" Yui and I both asked, which sounded CREEPY.

"No! Nooooo, I want to have my dance with James!" She said. "Tabane wants to dance with James!"

"Oh lord, she's drunk." A voice said from behind me. As the three of us turned around, I saw it was Houki… Well this might not end well… "Let me handle her." She said with a sigh. "She's pretty unmanageable when she gets like this."

"Y-You're ok with her being here?" I stuttered, knowing their touchy relationship.

"Ichika told me I should expect her, but I didn't expect her to be drunk" Houki explained as Yui disappeared, saying something about the lead not being dead again. "And while I'm not HAPPY about it, I understand that tonight is different."

"Wow. That's really mature." I said, getting a glare. "Not that you're not mature! I was just passing a complement!"

Houki simply nodded and dragged the Charlotte-lookalike Tabane out. I just hoped the rest of the night didn't get crazier…

AFTER THE PARTY

I collapsed on my bed at roughly midnight. The party had spiraled into a controlled chaos; Laura had somehow gotten her costume stuck on a ceiling fan and was still stuck there, Ichika kept getting attacked by drunk girls and accidentally grabbed one's breasts, right in front of Houki and the girls. Charlotte had been relatively normal, but had laughed on the sidelines as Chifuyu chased down Robert for getting drunk and calling Maya "sexy teacher" and had tried to get with her. His explanation when he called her "sexy teacher" had been: "because for a teacher, you're damn sexy!"

Cecilia and Casandra had stuck together throughout the whole dance, acting strangely like a couple. Yui said something along the lines of an alternate reality, but I was too tired to properly listen to her explanation. After that, Yui had gone off to find that it was Tatenashi who had, not spiked the punch, but bought punch with alcohol mixed in on accident, which explained why Yui had such a hard time finding out who had done it.

I had tried to control the damage as much as possible, and had been thanked by Chifuyu with a free day off to rest. After saying goodnight to everyone, and finding Tabane knocked out in my room, I changed into my sleeping clothes collapsed on the bed with my eyes closed.

Opening them up, I felt a shudder go through my spine and quickly looked out the window. Getting up quickly, I got over to the wardrobe and removed a pistol I kept there and looked out the window.

Only to come face to face with Slendy.

Or rather, I thought it was Slendy. After the initial startle, I realized it was one of his little note things that had a picture of him on it. I turned it over and read the back. "I had a great time. See you next year."

THAT'S IT GUYS! HOPE YOU ALL

James, Yui, and I: HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


	8. Chapter 7

**ALRIGHT LADIES AND GENTELMEN, HERE WE GO! CHAPTER 7!**

**Yui: YAY!**

**James: why me…**

**Cheer up James! I promise you wont get hurt or thrown into the fangirl pit if you do!**

**James: Yeah right. I don't believe anything you say.**

**That's probably the smartest thing I've heard you say yet.**

**James: I hate you.**

**Let's just ignore him Yui.  
Yui: OK!**

**Now, I want to give some special shout outs today to three people. One of them has been INSTREMTAL in helping me with properly combining the lore and physics of these two stories, and the other two have been some of my most loyal readers/reviewers. Starting with the former, HolyKnight5 you are a fucking saint. Without you, I'd have stupid big explosive grenades that are completely impractical other than in ship to ship combat.**

**Yui: You messed up that badly?**

**Yes…**

**Yui: Wow.**

**I know. Now, Teltron and MWkillkenny84, thank both of you for always leaving a review every time you read a new chapter. Its really nice to know that I have fans as loyal as you two, despite being pretty new to not only writing fanfiction in general, but in crossovers as well.**

**Yui: Oh, Oh, can I make the next announcement?**

**Sure, why not. James is being an ass, so let's annoy him more!**

**Yui: Alright, ATTENTION EVERYONE, BADS IS LOOKING FOR OC CHARACTERS TO ADD TO HIS STORY, THE DESCRIPTION OF WHAT TO MAKE WILL BE POSTED AT THE BOTTEM OF THIS CHAPTER, BUT HE NEEDS CHARACTERS TO FILL IN FOR –looks at the notes- Wait… You just need a list of random characters?**

**Yes. Mainly so that when the time comes I can throw the person in instead of getting writers block trying to come up with someone myself.**

**Yui: Oh! Anyway PM him with your ideas for the character, and leave the Review section to reviews! Is that all there was?**

**I think so… OH WAIT! I will be moving on to a different IS for James. I still do like the Mark V, but I agree it's becoming a bit to cliché. There was a small peak in the Halloween chapter, but before that happens, let's say that some people will be questioning why James is getting so many different IS units, and that the change WONT be immediate. Now, Yui, want to launch us in?**

**James: FUCK THAT IM DOING IT! HERES CHAPTER 7 EVERYONE!**

**Chapter 7**

**Insert Chapter Name Here**

The infected were everywhere. Seemingly out of nowhere, hordes of the Undead had appeared all over the world. Millions were dead, Billions had been infected and continued to attack, and the few thousand survivors in each country were doing their best to simply survive.

The same was true for the IS academy.

Equipping the Mark V, I stepe-OW!

"YUI WHAT WAS THAT FOR!" I yelled as Yui pinched my cheek again.

"For thinking of something stupid!" Yui said. "Seriously, Zombies? Come up with something better than that!"

"Hey zombies are cool!" I retorted, grabbing Yui and putting her into a headlock and ruffling her hair. "Besides, haven't I told you to stay out of my head?"

"Will you two keep it down? I'm trying to sleep!" Complained Cassandra from the bed next to me. We were in the in the infirmary after the destruction of the second IS arena from my grenade. Cassandra had some minor bruising and a concussion from being beaten by the Canadian pilot, but other than that was fine. She was being released later in the day.

I had fared much worse. Nothing broken, but I had internal bruising and some first and second degree burns on my arms from the heat of the explosion. Regardless of what the doctors said, however, I was leaving tonight. I still had to compete in the tournament, and although I hurt all over it wasn't something that would stop me from fighting. Sure, it would slow me down a bit, but nothing serious.

"Why the hell are you trying to sleep?" I asked, looking out the window. "It's not even Three o'clock!"

"You kept me up all night with your snoring!" Cassandra complained. "You're like a damn chainsaw. I'm surprised you don't wake up half the school!"

"Well, it's probably a good thing I soundproofed my room then…" I said sheepishly. "Though it wasn't for THAT purpose."

"Why did you soundproof your room?" She asked.

"Why do you thing? So no one could overhear things they shouldn't." I sad while looking her dead in the eye. "You know. Classified things."

"Oh." She said, realizing I was referring to the SGC. "Well I can tell you Cecilia and I are glad for that."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Oh, Cecilia and I are roommates, so were right next door to you. The LAST thing I want is Cecilia complaining about not getting any sleep due to your snoring."

"HA. I feel bad for you. I'm not sure if I would want to be rooming with her. Oh, by the way, she knows a bit about the… You know."

"Got'cha. How much?"

"I'll tell you some other time. Preferably with Ichika in the room, since I've been meaning to tell him as well. Actually," I said, "Maybe I should just have you there when I tell Cecilia everything as well. Two birds with one stone."

Casandra was about to say something, but was interrupted by a doctor coming in and telling her she was cleared to leave. Apparently they wanted to take some blood tests as well, but Casandra declined, saying that she felt fine. Shortly after she walked out, waving goodbye as she left.

"Well, this just got boring." I said, adjusting myself so I was sitting up straighter.

"Then be glad I'm here." Charles said as he walked in, carrying a tray of food. "I thought you might be hungry."

"Thanks! Anything is better than the hospital food I've been getting." I said, causing Charles to laugh.

"Come now James, you've only been here for half a day." Charles scolded. "Besides, hospital food isn't that bad… is it?"

"More than you know." I said, shuddering from my personal experiences in the past. "Most of the time, it varies from hospital to hospital, but I've had more than my fair share of horrible food."

"Right…" She said, handing me the tray. "So… about our bet."

"Oh, it's actually quite simple. Just answer this question truthfully ok?" I said.

"J you said we couldn't ask directly!" Yui complained.

"And I'm not. I'm asking as the result of a bet." I countered. "Anyway, Charles, are you actually a girl?"

Apparently my bluntness startled him, as he looked genuinely scared of what I had asked. Unfortunately for him, that meant I wouldn't believe him as much if he said no. Thankfully, I didn't have to doubt her when she gave her reply after a few minutes of silence.

"What gave it away?" She asked, her head hanging lowly as she stared at the floor.

"Well I have partial training in noticing the differences between male and female reactions, plus you're far too nice to be a guy. I have no doubt that everyone else is fooled though. I've only truly had a nagging feeling about it." I explained. Thankfully she put on a smile when I complemented her on her acting.

"Thank you, but I am doubtful that others don't think the same as you." She said, her voice a mixture of sadness and joy. "I'm sure that Ms. Orimura thinks the same as you."

"If it's ok, can I ask why you tried being a guy?" I asked lightly.

"Yes." She said with a nod. "It was originally my father's idea. Or rather, his order. I'm… an illigimate child. I only learned of who my father was when my mother passed away."

"Guess were kind of kindred spirits." I said, causing Charles, or whatever her real name was, to look at me in surprise. "My parents died as well, so I know how you feel in that regard. And I was also taken in by someone else in my family, though my new family was rather nice."

"Lucky. I think, all in all, ive seen my dad twice and talked to him for roughly an hour." She said with a sad smile. "Still, it is nice to know someone else knows about the loss of their parents."

"So why did he order you to come here as a guy?" I asked, not trying to be rude by suddenly switching topics.

"Oh, right. Sorry I got distracted." She apologized.

"No, its fine. I'm learning about the real you." I said with a warm smile, which caused her to smile as well. "Just tell me what you want me to know."

"Well, my father... he wanted me to come here and gather data on the 3rd generation IS models… and to get close to you and Ichika. What he was really intending to do was get the company back up on its feet." She said.

"Ah, I heard a bit about that. Dunois industries could lose its production rights due to not having any advancement in 3rd generation IS. Normally the company would have the data from the EU, but because France isn't a part of it, their behind in development, right?" I asked.

"Yes." She said with a nod. "Shortly after I was taken in by my father I was tested on my IS compatibility. Since it was so high, I was officially registered as a Dunois test pilot. As soon as the news was out that Ichika was a male pilot, and shortly after him, you, my father decided it would make sense to see if he could get away with a third while I gathered data on the newer IS models."

"So what now?" I asked.

"I'm not sure." Charles said. "If you already discovered who I really am, then it's only a matter of time before someone else does as well. I guess I'll be called back to my father."

"But he can't." Yui said. When we both looked at her with confused expressions, she continued. "Article 4, section 3, paragraph 1 of the IS academy rules and safety regulations states that 'all students attending the academy are not tied to any nation, group, or family. No one is allowed to act on the students behalf without expressed permission from the student."

"So legally," I said, catching on to what Yui was saying, "your dad can't touch you while you're attending the academy for the next three years. That's plenty of time to figure something out, and by then, you'll be of legal age to do as you pleased, so even then he couldn't truly come after you."

"Y-You mean I can stay here? With you and our friends?" She asked, though the way she said it made me feel like there was a secret, underlying motive she wasn't telling me, but I didn't care. She was my friend and I wasn't going to let some asshole of a father dictate the life of a daughter he didn't care about. That type of a person didn't deserve the right to be called a father.

"Yes you can stay. It's your life. Live it how you want." I said, giving her a warm smile. Apparently that was exactly what she wanted to hear, because she threw herself at me and hugged me so tightly I almost couldn't breathe.

"Thank you so much!" She cried as tears of pure joy rolled down her face. I didn't have the strength to get out of it, but even if I did I wouldn't have. Seeing Charles like this, so happy and care free, brimming with happiness, I just couldn't help but hug her back. I gently wrapped my arms around her and, after hearing a surprised yelp, held her just as tightly as she was hugging me.

"You know," I whispered, enjoying the hug a bit more than I should, "There's a condition for my silence."

"W-what?" she asked, clearly nervous at what I might have in mind for her, knowing I knew she was a girl.

"Its really simple." I said, stringing her along.

"James will you please just tell me?" She said, getting somewhat frustrated at me.

"Fine." I gave in, still smiling at her. "I just want to know your real name."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"T-That's it?" She stammered, surprised at how little I wanted.

"Yup." I said simply.

"O-Oh, ok. It's Charlotte. Charlotte Dunois." She said, still hugging me, but now looking up into my eyes. Her eyes were filled with happiness and relief, that someone knew who she truly was and cared for her.

In contrast, mine were filled with the same happiness, but that was just a cover for the pure, almost uncontrollable rage I felt towards her father. Just the fact that some scum like that man existed, let alone was successful enough to be in charge of an international company, made my blood boil.

But I knew this wasn't the time, nor the place to let that anger manifest, or even show for that matter. So instead I bottled up that anger, that hatred towards her father for giving her a life like this, and stored it away. Should I ever encounter that man, I'd make damn sure he won't be having any more kids.

And then I'd let my anger loose.

"Um, guys?" Yui said, sitting on the bed where Casandra had been laying. When Charlotte and I turned to look at her, she continued. "I hate to break up your little love-fest, but the gang is going to be coming in at any second."

Immediately, I gently pushed Charlotte away so that it looked like she was sitting at the end of the bed. Meanwhile, she franticly tried to rid herself of the bright blush on her face which had stuck itself on her cheeks as soon as Yui had mentioned love-fest.

"Who's all there?" I asked.

"Ichika and his unknown-to-him harem, so Houki, Rin, and Cecilia." Yui replied.

"Do I even want to know how you know that?" Charlotte asked.

"I just look through the cameras placed throughout the school. Nothing bad."

"Except that the school had the second highest security defenses on the planet." I muttered as the door opened. True to her word, Ichika, Rin, Houki, and Cecilia all walked in, Cecilia being the first as she rushed to my side.

'Ok, maybe I should take Cecilia off Ichika's harem list.' Yui teased, which I promptly ignored.

"You're awake!" Cecilia exclaimed as she rushed towards me. "Thank goodness! You looked horrible when I found you in the hangar, and I was worried when you passed out on me!"

"Relax Cecilia. I'm fine." I said, raising my arms up mostly to keep her from barreling into me. "Better than fine really, since I'm competing in the tournament later."

"Is that ok?" Rin asked. "I mean, you did kill someone… I would have thought that disqualified you from the tournament."

"Wait, she died?!" I yelled. "WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THIS?"

"I did." Yui said. "The last attack hit dead center. Due to the fight with Casandra, and taking damage from you, her shields were far to depleted to properly hold out against the blast. Even Absolute Barrier couldn't hold back the blast."

"Well regardless, they refused to stand down. They threatened a friend of mine with death. While I didn't want her to die, I don't hold any remorse for her." I said flatly. When everyone looked at me with expressions of surprise, I continued, letting out a bit of my anger from earlier. "No one, and I mean no one, threatens my friends."

'They're all I have left.' I thought to myself, keeping it hidden from even Yui.

"I understand."

"Wha-?" The girls said, looking at Ichika.

"It's just like what I want to be. I want to defend those who I care about, even to the death. Be it mine or my foes." She said, looking me strait in the eye. Ichika was really changing, and I liked to think I was responsible for helping him get this far.

Simply nodding, at him, I pulled the covers off my and got out of bed. I had a small twinge of pain from my shoulder, but I ignored it. Slowly, I walked to the door before Cecilia stopped me.

"I demand to know where you think you're going." She said.

"To get two people." I said, gently moving Cecilia to the side. "Everyone, meet me in my room tonight before curfew. I want to explain some things to all of you."

"But you're injured!" Cecilia protested. "At least let me accompany you!"

"Cecilia." I said, looking her in the eye. "Remember that talk we had one night?"

"Y-Yes." She stammered, startled by my sudden question.

"I think it's time you heard the full story." I said, walking out and turning towards the faculty building.

**FIVE MINUTES LATER**

"So tonight's the night?" Robert asked. "Well, I hope we can convince them."

"Shouldn't be that hard. The Sun Tzu is in orbit. We're going to be holding the discussion up there." I countered

"The Chinese ship? Why them?"

"Only ones in orbit currently." I said. "Everyone else is busy with assignments. Plus their undergoing some repairs, so it made sense to use them."

"I guess so. So who's all going up?"

"You, me, and Cassandra. We're going to be the ones doing the explaining."

"I meant who are we explaining to." Robert deadpanned.

"Oh. Ichika, Rin, Cecilia, Houki and Charles." I said. "Cecilia already knows a bit, and this is Ichika's dream basically, so they have to go. Houki won't let Ichika out of her sight, so she's in. I trust Charles, so he's in as well."

"And Rin?"

"Well chances are she knows a bit, seeing as they have their own warship. If not, then she'll feel better knowing her country has a presence out there."

"Fair enough. Cassandra know?"

"Yui's explaining it to her. We're meeting up after my match tonight."

We were standing in the maintenance bay, assessing the damage to the Mark V as we talked. Most of the damage had ended up only effecting the Oppressor equipment. There were a couple of shield emitters that were broken on the actual suit, but they were easily replaced.

Apparently the suit's basic armor plating had melted slightly, which had allowed the heat to seep in and give me the burns on my body. Tabane, during me and her little bet, had thankfully sent some upgraded plates, designed with the same materials as in the Rouge. We hadn't had time to properly equip them all over the suit yet, and the only spots with damage were the ones that still needed to be replaced. They were a bit difficult to get off, being half melted and all, but we eventually got them all replaced.

"You sure you want to fight? I know you're basically indestructible, but damn man, you killed someone!"

"You don't think I know that?" I said, struggling to replace the last piece of armor. "But I didn't have many options. Her staff weapon's attacks went through my shields, and she refused to stand down. All of that AFTER she threatened to kill Cassandra."

"I wasn't going to let that bitch get away!" I yelled, not in anger, but because I was straining to get the last piece of armor off. Robert thankfully knew that, and walked over to hand me a crowbar. Jamming it into its specially designed slot, I popped the piece out after a couple of attempts that only made it move slightly. "Man that grenade packs a punch!"

"I'm just really concerned about you going out there and fighting. Hell, we don't even know if they're going to let you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now, you watched who my next opponent is. What do you got for me?" I asked.

"You're screwed." He said flatly. "You're up against the student council president. Her IS is called 'mysterious lady' and is a 3rd generation model. The pilot's name, as I'm sure you've already guessed, is-"

"Tatenashi Sarashiki, the Russian Representative. Fuck." I said, finishing Roberts's sentence. "IS specs?"

"Close to mid-range. She has two primary weapons. A whip sword she calls Rusty Nail, and a lance with an internal four barrel Gatling gun. Other than that, she can apparently manipulate water for defensive or offensive purposes." He said.

"Right. So were going with Saber."

"It's probably your only bet of winning since Oppressor is out of commission."

"Why do you keep doubting that I'll win?" I asked, raising my eyebrow quizzically.

"Damn it man, you should know this." Robert said while face palming. "The student council president is determined by being the strongest person in the school. Plus she's a third year, so she knows her IS inside and out."

"So do I though" I said, referring to Yui. "Honestly I find it just slightly annoying."

"You don't have three years' worth of experience though you idiot!"

"I'll be fine." I said, my voice leaving no room for argument. "Now, let's get that last plate on."

**HALF AN HOUR LATER, AT ARENA 2**

"James, I'm disappointed in you."

"Bull. Your just saying that because I had to kill someone to save Cassandra." I retorted.

"No, what you did was reckless!" O'neill said. After finishing fixing the Mark V, I had come down to the arena I had destroyed. Apparently, the members of SG-1 were there waiting for me. "You should have detained her! Surly that suit has something that could have kept her from dying!"

"Jack-"

"Ah, Ah, AH! Colonel."

"Fine. Colonel. If you had been there you would have seen that pilot using a HEAVILY modified staff weapon, which completely ignored my shields! Combed that with her incredibly strong shields and her determination to kill me, not because I was a target, but because I was INBETWEEN her and her target, I saw no other options that would have stopped her without injuring others. _Sir_."

"Alright drop the attitude sergeant." O'neill said, taking up a small smile. "Or should I say, Warrant Officer."

"Sir?" I asked.

"The president apparently has things handled, what with you killing a Canadian/American citizen and all. Turns out that the pilot, one Maranda Fredrick, was a rouge NID member who just so happened to be a wanted fugitive by the US government, with kill on sight orders. As such, he has given me orders to promote you to the rank of W-1 Warrant Officer." O'neill said, snapping into a crisp salute, with me following suit. "To be entirely fair, I probably would have done the same thing."

"Your just upset you don't get to pilot an IS." Jackson said flatly, causing Carter to smile slightly. She had been tested twice on her comparability with the IS. The first time had been average, but the second time was after her… forced time with Jolinar. Apparently the protein marker left by the symbiote let females have better compatibility with the IS units, as was the case when Major Carter was tested again, and showed she was exceptionally compatible, much like Cassandra but nowhere near the young girls levels.

Needless to say, O'neill had been very bitter about IS's in general, since he himself didn't get to pilot the earths deadliest weapon at least once.

"It's a load of horse crap! I swear, when we get back to base, I'm having the good doctor make me one!" He complained. "But anyway, your new insignia is still being shipped here, so consider this official until it gets here."

"Got it O'neill." I said. "You guys going to stick around for the rest of the tournament? Casandra lost, but I can tell she's been happier ever since you guys got here."

"Jackson cant. Something about some impossibly amazing ruins on PX9-1001 that just HAVE to be deciphered." O'neill said in his famous over exaggeration tone of voice. "But, the rest of us get to stick around and torture you, showe-"

"O'neill, did you not agree that, should you continue to call James by that name, Tabane wouldn't make modifications on the item you requested?" Teill'c said, speaking up for once.

"Ah, right! Thank you for stopping me."

"Well anyway, when does your flight leave Danielle?" I asked Danielle.

"Oh, I'm not flying. Well, not in the normal sense." He said.

"The Sun Tzu?" I asked.

"How did you know?" he questioned.

"I'm being beamed up later tonight." I answered. "President allowed me to gather up some recruits for the SGC that could pilot an IS, since we currently don't have enough properly trained or compatible replacements for those injured or killed. Going to show them I'm serious by beaming them up as well and let them get a good view of earth from orbit as I explain things to them."

"Obviously I'll have them all sworn to secrecy. I won't let them just start talking their mouths off." I clarified. "Don't want any rumors spreading."

"Well if you want we could probably help." Carter said. "Right sir?"

"I don't see why not." O'neill said.

"Thanks guys. I'm sure it will help. We're meeting in my room after my match tonight."

**TEN MINUTES LATER, IN THE CONTROL ROOM**

**(Chifuyu's POV)**

'I don't get it.' I thought as I got off the phone. 'There's no way he should be allowed to continue participating, especially after he killed a person.'

"Who was that Ms. Orimura?" Maya asked.

"The UN Counsel. They said that James was pardoned fully for killing the girl."

"WHA? Why?"

"Apparently the girl was a wanted fugitive from America with a death warrant." I said.

"Why would a girl that young be wanted, let alone killed!" Maya exclaimed.

"I'm not sure, though I can't blame James for his actions necessarily." I said.

'Especially if it was Ichika who was being threatened, instead of Cassandra.' I silently added.

"Maya, have James come down before his match. I want to have a word with him."

"Yes mam!"

**TWENTY MINUTES LATER**

**(James POV)**

"So Chi-Chan, am I allowed to compete or not?" I asked as I stepped into the control room.

"Not if you keep calling me that." Chifuyu said, not looking away from the screen.

"Well that's a yes. So why did you ask for me?

"A few things. First off, aren't you supposed to be in the infirmary?" She argued.

"Good luck keeping me there. I know my body, and I know I can fight. I also know my limits, and to when to stop and rest when I'm really hurt." I countered.

"How are you after killing your first person?"

"You assume she was the first." I said, getting her full attention.

"How many?"

"Roughly a dozen. All self-defense."

"Feel like sharing?" She asked.

Honestly, I felt I should. It had been eating away at me for a while now. I was still scared from the first one, and now it felt so normal that I was growing more concerned. I knew it wasn't healthy to get use to killing people, or having people try to kill you for that matter, but that's why I joined the military. So I could rationalize it better and, hopefully, dismay other possible killers form attacking.

"Another time…" I said softly. Surprisingly, she smiled sympathetically to me.

"I understand. It's not easy, and it only gets harder. I know I have the reputation for being the demon teacher, but I do care for my students wellbeing."

"That's a shocker."

_Warning, shields have taken damage from a friendly target. Shield points currently 215/625. Threat level: Error…Error… ERROR! SEEK COVER!_

"Yeah, I'm never fighting you." I said simply. Internally, I was screaming so loud that Yui was complaining.

"Thank you Tabane!" She said. "Without you, I wouldn't be able to instill fear in my students!"

"Seriously, I'm concerned with how happy and easy going you are."

"Don't be. Anyway I heard you're having a little get together tonight." She said, regaining her normal demon-like composer. "Do I need to crash it?"

"You're welcome to try. I have a history of having little get together where we mysteriously vanish." I teased. "If you feel like you could crash it, then like I said, you're welcome to try. Now is that it?"

"Yeah, that's it." She said with a wave of her hand.

THIRTY MINUTES LATER, IN THE SOUTHERN IS HANGER OF ARENA ONE

"Everything working?" I asked as I walked in from the locker room.

"Yup. Don't know how well you're going to do, so I'll just say good luck." Robert replied.

"Thanks man, but seriously, have a little faith in me." I teased.

"I have a little." He said. "JUST a little." he teased back.

"Alright. Oh, how did Ichika's match go?"

"He lost." Yui said. "To be fair, it was an even fight right up to the buzzer before Cecilia got in a lucky shot."

"I just don't get why the fight was timed!" Ichika shouted, startling everyone as he walked in. "Sorry about that. Hehe."

"Ichika you idiot." I muttered as I face palmed. "They do that so the battles simulate real life scenarios. The timed event would be for when you have to take down a target or miss your chance to leave or do retrieve critical intelligence. These mock battles should be taken as real life situations."

"James it's a tournament…" Yui said with an exasperated sigh. "The put the time limit in simply so it gives a bit of diversity."

"I like my idea better." I muttered. "Anyway, I gota get going. Yui, inside."

Happily complying, Yui jumped into my head as I walked out to the edge of the Hangar bay. Despite it being roughly Four o'clock, the stadium lights were on full blast, and as I walked out the glare was almost blinding. Thankfully, my artificial eye and contact lenses automatically adjusted their polarity so I wasn't blinded for long.

To say that the stadium was packed would be an understatement. With seemingly everyone, students and visitors, all eager to see this one match, it made me wonder just how everyone else felt having such small crowds watch them. No doubt that I would be on the receiving end of any resentment that others might have.

As I finished looking around, I noticed my opponent sitting on the lip of the opposite hangar. She had a foldable fan in her hands that strangely complemented her rather… unique appearance. Most notable was her eyes, being a deep crimson red. Combined with her bright cyan hair, it was quite the exotic look. She flicked her wrist and the fan opened to display the word 'Hello' on it.

"Took you long enough to notice me. Tatenashi Sarashiki, Student Council President and Russian Representative. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said with a nod of her head.

"Likewise." I replied, returning her nod. "My names James Reverend, and it's an honor to have you as my opponent."

"My, my, such a gentleman. Keep that up and I'll have a hard time keeping my hands off of you." She said teasingly. Upon seeing no visible change in my expression, she pouted. "No fair. Why are all the fun ones so hard to break?"

"I think that's part of the fun." I said, giving her a devilish smirk. "It's the thrill of knowing your target has no way of getting free, and finally accepting their fate."

"Hmm." She mused as her expression visibly stiffened upon hearing me say that. "A kindred spirit. Well I hope you can entertain me more than my last opponent."

With that she dropped off the ledge and summoned her IS. A cyan blue and crimson red colored machine with smooth plating along its legs and wings. Despite its appearance at having very minimal covering, she flaunted it like it was a feature.

And her body didn't do anything to elevate the roar from the crowd.

"Oh, I think I'll manage." I said as I threw my IS in its standby form and jumped off the ledge for it. The mechanisms and parts quickly and efficiently surrounded my body, encasing me in the highly strengthened armor plating. The thrusters activated and I stabilized myself, maintaining the same altitude throughout the whole experience. Then, with nothing to do until the match started, I waited and listened to the announcer.

"LADIES AND GENTELMEN, WELCOME TO THE LAST MATCH OF THE DAY!" The male announcer shouted, getting the crowd riled up. At least that explained why the arena was so packed. "TODAY WE HAVE A SPECIAL TREAT FOR YOU ALL! FROM THE NORTH ARENA, PILOTING THE MYSTERIOUS LADY, THE STUDENT COUNSIL PRESIDENT AND RUSSIAN REPRESENTATIVE, TATENASHI SARASHIKI!"

A near deafening roar of applause came from the crowd as Tatenashi bowed and waved at her roaring fans. Most of it was coming from the student section, the girls their shouting their hearts out.

"AND FROM THE SOUTHER HANGAR!" The announcer continued, easily overpowering the roar of the audience. "ONE OF THE THREE MALE PILOTS, THE MAN WHO DESTROYED ARENA TWO, AND THE PILOT OF THE MARK V. I GIVE YOU, JAMES REVEREND!"

Thankfully, Yui turned up the audio filters to quiet the roar of the audience, otherwise I could have easily gone deaf. This time, instead of the girls overpowering everyone, it was the guys that were the loudest. They shouted their praises at me, seeing me as their representative, their proof that males don't have to be put in an inferior place, that they were just as powerful as the women who piloted these suits of death and destruction.

"NOW WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY! LET THE MATCH BEGIN!" The announcer yelled.

"Would you like the honors?" Tatenashi asked.

"Not at all, ladies first." I insisted.

"Ever the gentleman." She smiled. "Very well, but you'll regret that choice."

With a sudden dash, she summoned her whip sword and attempted to close the distance between us. I flared my thrusters and did just what she didn't expect; I shot forward and fired my Repulsors. She quickly adapted and shot her whip sword at me, it curving at me like it had a mind of its own. With a quick burst from my thrusters, I dodged the weapon before continuing to fire at her.

Only for her entire body and suit to disperse into water.

"What the-" I stammered.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I not show that during my previous match? The one you had your friend watch? My bad." She said from behind me, and as I turned she held her fan out. This time it said the word 'Sorry.'

"Hmm. Starting off with a technique you didn't want me to see before? Poor tactic." I said as I started firing at her before deploying Safeguard to block a barrage of rounds from her Lance/Gatling gun. (A/N: Sorry, just realized I never gave you the idea behind Safeguard. It looks a lot like the one that Fox uses on its robot during football game coverage. Its basically a riot shield.) "Well that was expected."

"But was this?" She asked as she lifted the water from the clone into the air and created not one, but two clones.

"Eh, other than the law of conservation of matter being broken, not really. My guess is that you can either manage four or five clones." I said, returning fire from behind safeguard as the clones moved into position to flank me. "Although I will admit, this tactic is very nice."

"Overwhelm and crush all opposition. A tactic from the motherland." She replied as the clones shot forward, looking to skewer me between their lances. It would have worked too, if not for me cutting power from my thrusters and dropping from the sky at the last second, causing the two water clones to crash together.

"Come now Tatenashi. Let's have a fight just between us. No silly clones." I taunted.

"My clones are not silly!" She yelled, taking my taunt more personally than I intended.

"My bad, my bad." I said, trying to calm her down. "I just meant I wanted a fight between just you and me."

"Humph! I still don't like how you called them silly!"

'Ok… That's not childish at all…' I thought as I blocked another burst from her lance-gun combination.

'Yeah. Can we end this now?' Yui asked.

'Sure, though I don't like the idea of winning just because I accidentally made her emotionally unstable.' I replied before muttering a single word out loud. "Saber."

A bright, blue/white blast of light emerged from my armor as it shifted and changed. The upper arm and shoulder armor pieces disappeared while the forearm armor changed to arm guards with the hand remaining generally the same, but with just enough removed in the palm to keep the Repulsor operational.

The Chest piece was altered as well, changing shape to an ancient armored cuirass, the hole for the Arc generator remaining the same. A chin guard grew up to protect my now exposed head from decapitation. The legs were completely striped down and reassembled in a more sabaton boot style with some loose armor plates attached to the cuirass hanging around my waist.

The most notable change was the massive, golden, double edged broadsword now in my hands, seemingly radiating power with a golden glow of light that appeared to gently fall off of it. It had a blue streak going down the center of it down to the hilt.

Without waiting for a response, I dashed forward, using my now enhanced movement to almost instantly close the gap between us as I swung the sword. Still too stunned to react, the blade met no resistance as it chopped out a huge chunk of her shield points.

Realizing just how screwed she was at the moment, Tatenashi released a mist of water into the air and enveloped herself in a sphere of water before the mist detonated. The blast didn't do much damage, but crashing into the shields of the arena made up for that.

"Ok, I'll admit that you have some skill." She said, regaining her composer as her shield of water dissipated. "But you won't be winning this match."

Instead of replying, I fired a blast from my repulsor, causing her to duck and lose altitude. Seconds later, I slammed the blade of my sword at her. Surprisingly, she managed to deflect it with her lance, only to get a kick to the head as I used the momentum of her deflection to spin around.

Now low on shield points, she started firing her lance-gun from what she thought was a safe distance. Unable to bring up Safeguard, I dodged the majority of the rounds, letting a few hit me as I steadily closed the gap between us. Finally, she realized that, despite me getting closer to her, she wasn't hitting me any more than before. A second later, she smirked.

Five clones materialized out of nowhere, each one with either a whip sword or a lance, and started attacking me. Surprised by the sudden appearance of more than one enemy, I blocked two of the lances and a whip sword, but the remaining attacks hit their mark and I fell from the sky, causing dust to fly up as I crashed into the ground.

Knowing that I wasn't down due to their being no announcement, she was about to fire her lance-gun when a golden wave collided with her and the water clones. The clones, being weaker and made of water, were quickly destroyed. Tatenashi fared little better as she fell from the sky and created a dust cloud similar to my own.

Immediately I dashed to the edge of the dust cloud and swung the golden sword again, creating another golden wave that tossed aside all the dust and collided with Tatenashi just as she tried to dodge it. Seconds later the announcer's voice came over the speakers.

"AND THAT'S IT LADIES AND GENTEMAN! TATANASHI SARASHIKI IS NO LONGER ABLE TO FIGHT! THE WINNER IS JAMES REVEREND!" He yelled, almost being drowned out by the cries of joy and outrage as the fans from each side made their feelings known.

I ignored the roars from the crowd as I walked over to where Tatenashi was laying, panting from exertion and fatigue. She looked up at me and smiled weakly as I smiled down on her as well.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to insult you earlier." I apologized as I extended a hand down to help her up. She took it and I easily hoisted her up. "As far as the match goes, I don't consider it a win. I didn't get to fight you at your strongest."

"Cut the gentleman act James. Its ok if I call you that, right?" She asked, and at my nod she continued. "I knew I didn't have a chance against you. Especially since you're IS was created by Tabane and uses elements found only from a certain US funded project."

"Surprised yours isn't, Ms. Russian representative." I said, not faltering at her surprising knowledge of the Stargate program and my IS. "Your government all but saved that program and has more than a few benefits from it."

"Didn't think I'd need them." She replied walking off. "Though during our next fight, I won't be so under prepared."

"Oh, and one more thing." She called out as I started walking towards my hangar. Turning around, I saw her fan in her hand with the words 'Good Luck' written on it. "I'll be there tonight. I won't go up with you all, but I'll keep Instructor Orimura off your backs."

"I appreciate it." I said as she folded her fan back up and continued walking away.

'Yui, why does it feel like I just made a great friend, but a powerful enemy at the same time?'

'Because she is both. Personally, I don't trust the Russians or anyone associated with them.' Yui said, and the feeling of her pouting coursed through my head.

'But… The SGC is associated with them… And through them so are Tabane, Robert, and well… Me.'

'…'

'…'

'I hate it when you actually make sense.' Yui sighed in defeat.

I just laughed at her as I walked back towards the hangar.

**LATER IN THE EVENING, AT JAMES AND CHARLOTTE'S ROOM**

"CONGRADULATIONS ON YOUR WIN!" Everyone shouted as I walked into my room. After my match, everyone had suddenly vanished. I had figured they would be doing something like this, especially when Yui never came back when I sent Yui out to find everyone. Instead of busting them and running whatever they were planning, I instead broke into Ichika's room and took a shower in there, then wandered around the campus until I got messaged by Yui.

"Thanks guys." I said as the confetti rained down on me from above. "How you guys did this in only two hours, I don't even want to know."

The room had been completely overhauled. The beds had been tipped upright so they leaned against the wall, leaving two large tables in their place and seats for everyone. What was really surprising was the paper streamers, the balloons, and the hand painted sign saying congratulations, all placed in strategic spots around the room.

"Well, your friends helped a lot. The one with the golden tattoo on his head is a lot stronger than he looks." Ichika said, not minding the curious look that Teill'c gave him.

"Where did the two of you end up meeting?" Rin asked.

"That will be answered more later, but for now, I'll just say I met him in the military." I explained. "Now then, is everything ready?"

"Just waiting on you." O'neill said.

"What do you mean 'is everything ready'?" Houki asked.

"This." I said as I pulled out a small radio from my closet. After changing its frequency, it pressed the button. "Sun Tzu, this is Warrant Officer James Reverend. Do you have a lock on us?"

"_Affirmative._" A voice said through the radio. "_Just the occupants of the room correct? Not the two outside the door?_"

"Yup. Just us." O'neill said into his own radio. "And sooner rather than later would be preferable."

"_Rodger that. Beaming you up now._" The voice said from the radio.

"Bea-" Charlotte started to ask before a bright white light surrounded everyone. Seconds later the door broke down and Chifuyu walked in, only to find the room filled with… nothing.

"Where did they go?" She asked the girl behind her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said as she opened her fan to display the word 'Sorry."

ABOARD THE SUN TZU, IN ORBIT AROUND EARTH

"-m us up?" Charlotte finished asking before looking around, much like everyone else was doing besides those use to it. "W-What was that?"

"That was Asgard beaming technology." Carter answered. "If you'll look out the window, I think it will answer a few of your questions."

Curious as to what Carter was talking about, everyone turned and looked out the window, only to be shocked into silence. I walked over as well, simply because I hadn't seen the view in a while.

The view of earth slowly spinning, miles beneath us. The rays of sunlight casting a glow on everything it touched, and between the brightness of the light and the blackness of the dark was a thin, purple light, slowly inching its way across the planet.

"I-Is that…" Cecilia muttered.

"The Earth." I stated. "It's been a while since I've seen it like this."

"Yeah. Last time was, what, when the Prometheus needed repairs after the artic battle?" Robert asked, walking up to the window as well.

"No you idiot. That was just the first time." I said as I whacked him in the head. "Remember when the pulled us to work on the Odyssey so we could familiarize ourselves with serving on a ship?"

"Ah, right. My bad." Robert muttered as he rubbed his head.

"James." I heard from my right, and turned to see Charlotte looking at me with a smile. Unfortunately it wasn't the pleasant smile that I had come to know and enjoy. No, this smile sent chills down my spine. "Would you please explain why we happen to be in orbit?"

"Please don't say it like that. Seriously it's terrifying." I said, visibly shivering from the icy venom laced in her words. "Besides, why else would I have brought you all here?"

"Were in space." Ichika muttered.

"Gee, it's not like we've moved on from that point." O'neill half muttered.

"Were in space." Ichika repeated.

"Is he always like this?" Jackson asked, pointing at Ichika.

"He's actually pretty smart, it's just, he's denser than a rock. It doesn't help that going to space has been his dream for years." I said with a shrug.

"Ah."

"WERE IN SPACE!" Ichika yelled with probably the biggest smile I've ever seen on a guy's face. "HOLY CRAP WERE IN SPACE! I CAN'T BELI-OW!"

"Will you calm down you idiot!" Houki yelled at him after hitting him with her wooden Shinai she pulled out of nowhere. "Yes, were in space. Can you please move on from that?"

"BUT HOUKI, WERE IN SPACE!" He continued. "DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE DREAMT OF THIS?"

"NO!" She yelled back and hit him with her Shinai, ok, how the hell did she ALWAYS have that damned thing? "BECAUSE I HAVENT SEEN YOU IN YEARS!"

"Oh…" he said deflated, "Right… Sorry."

"Well?" O'neill asked. "Don't keep us waiting. How long?"

"How long what?" Ichika questioned.

"James are you sure about this guy?" He asked in an exasperated tone. "How long has this been your dream!"

"O-OH!" Ichika jumped, realizing he just sounded like an idiot. "It was roughly a year after you left Houki, so most of my life."

"Well congratulations. You achieved your dream of going to space!" O'neill said drastically. "Now, if you don't mind, would you follow me to a meeting room so we can have a proper talk about this?"

After lingering for a few minutes to stare out of the window a bit longer, and being told that this was a military ship and that they needed to get moving, the gang started following the SG-1 members. The meeting room, largely disused by the crew of the ship due to never leaving orbit of the planet yet, was only a few corridors away, but the group walked in awe of the design of the ship.

The corridors of the Sun Tzu were a 8-sided polygonal shape, with bracing sections designed to help reduce the strain on the walls when in combat and to drop blast doors in the event of an emergency. There was plenty of lighting as we walked, which for some reason surprised Ichika. Where he got the idea of a dark interior spaceship, I have no idea, but he refused to stop muttering about it.

When we reached the meeting room, which often served as a high security holding area on other ships, and heard the door hiss behind us. Charlotte and Cecilia gave me a concerned look, but I gave them a nod to show it was fine.

In the center of the room was a circular Mahogany table that looked completely out of place amidst the utilitarian, gun metal grey walls of the ship. There were enough seats around it for all of us, plus two, Jackson having said goodbye after we had left the room we had beamed into.

"Jack?" I asked. "Why the hell didn't we just beam into this room?"

"Good question!" He replied enthusiastically before turning. "Carter? Why didn't we just beam into this room?"

"The Asgard beaming technology hasn't been installed into this room and several others sir." She replied. "That was the closest room to where we are now."

"Well, there you have it." Jack jestured to me. "Now then, as you all are aware, we are currently in space, aboard a BC-304 Daedalus class battle cruiser called the Sun Tzu, and is under the control of the Chinese government. Naturally, treat all of this, and anything else you all hear, as BEYOND" He waived his hands erratically, "classified. Understood?"

"Yes." Came the united reply from everyone besides everyone who knew about this already.

"Good. Now then, James, since you kindly brought us all here, would you like to start?" O'neill continued.

"But you were doing such a good job colonel." I replied, riling him up a bit. "But sure. Why not. Everyone, lets take a seat."

"James, before be begin." Casandra spoke up as everyone sat down. "I'd just like to mention to them that I, along with Robert, also know about this, so feel free to ask us questions as well."

"Thanks Casandra." I said, giving her a nod. "Now then. I'm sure you all have a nearly limitless amount of questions, but we don't have the luxury of time on this ship, so keep your questions until later. Chances are most of your questions will be answered anyway. Now then… where to begin."

THREE HOURS LATER

"Well, that's about it. The Stargate, the Goa'uld, the Jaffa, Symbiotes, and spaceships. Did I leave anything out?" I asked.

"For a three hour rant, it sounded fairly good." O'neill muttered. "Remind me again why I thought it would be a good idea to come along."

"I do believe that you covered the majority of the basics." Teill'c spoke up.

"I… Have a question." Cecilia said, raising her hand.

"Oh, come on!" O'neill complained. "Were not at some school. Just speak your mind. No need to raise your hand."

"Sorry…" Cecilia muttered as she lowered her hand, clearly embarrassed. "But, Mr. Teill'c, are you not one of these… Jaffa?"

"Indeed I am." He replied with a nod.

"Then… Can we see it?" She asked timidly. "If, it's ok with you, that is."

"It is of no problem to me." He replied with a thin smile and stood up. "Be warned, those who view a symbiote for the first time tend to experience shock."

"Wait, you still have Junior?" O'neill asked. "I thought you were on Tretonin and he died.

"That is not so, Colonel O'neill. My symbiote managed to survive after some time of rest, and while I do not doubt the powers of Tretonin, I would rather continue to use the symbiote until it is ready to take a host." Teill'c explained and turned towards Cecilia. "Do you still wish to see?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Very well." He said and lifted his shirt up, revealing the X shaped cut in his stomach. Upon seeing that alone, most of the group visibly palled. When Junior came out, however, the reactions were quite… different.

Cecilia, having asked, managed to keep her composer and, arguably, took it the best. She remained calm as Junior slowly extended his way out of Teill'c's (**Yes that is grammatically correct, despite how it looks**) pouch. When it squeaked, however, she flinched slightly, though mostly from surprise.

Houki happened to be the closest, and quickly backed up as Junior came out. Only Ichika could really keep her from screaming, as he put his arms around her, a scene that didn't go unnoticed by the girls. Ichika himself, after displaying the initial shock and head jerk, composed himself quite well.

Rin promptly looked away, her face looking more green than pale at the moment. Thankfully she kept her dinner down, for her sake as well as everyone else's, but especially Charlotte's, who had been sitting in the direction Rin had turned.

Charlotte was the other who took it well and, after the surprise factor, was the only one who was vocal about her opinion, going 'Awe' as Junior slithered out of Teill'c's pouch. Even more surprisingly, she giggled when it made its little squeak, and got several surprised glances in reaction.

"Charles," I said, "That is the **FIRST** time I think **ANYONE** has said 'Awe,' much less **GIGGLED** at a symbiote."

"Indeed." Teill'c added. "Most typically people look upon my symbiote with disgust and ridicule. I am not use to such a reaction."

"But it's so cute!" She said, letting her female side show. Quickly realizing what had just happened, she coughed, violently I might add, and continued, her male voice returning. "Sorry. Something in my throat."

"Right… So anyw-"

"_ALL HAND THIS IS THE XO SPEAKING. WE HAVE A CONFIRMED GOA'ULD MOTHERSHIP ON ROUTE TO EARTH. I WANT EVERYONE BATTLESTATIONS NOW. ALL NON ESSENTIAL PERSONEL ARE TO BE BEAMED TO THE SGC UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL, I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL_"

"Let's get going everyone. Back to the room we started out in!" O'neill barked as he stood up.

"Wait, what's going on?" Someone, I think it was Houki, asked.

"Goa'uld mothership is coming to earth, and this ship is going to fight it." I explained. "So they want us off the ship in case they manage to get some hits in! let's g-"

Everyone was knocked off their feet as an explosion shook the hull. Seconds later, the XO came over the intercom again. "_ALL HAND, REPORT DAMAGE. STEALTHED ALKESH BOMBERS TOOK SOME SHOTS AT US WHILE THE SHIELDS WERE DOWN. I WANT A DAMMAGE REPORT AND I WANT IT NOW!_"

"Let's go! Last thing we need is to get stuck up here during a fight!" O'neill yelled as we all got back on our feet. I grabbed Charlotte and started to half carry her as we made the short sprint to the room we were beamed up to. Sparks were flying and the lights flickered in unisin with the hull shaking as it took more and more hits from the bombers.

"Why aren't the shields up?" Cecilia yelled. "You said this ship had shields!"

"It does!" Cassandra replied. "But the Asgard teleportation beams don't work through them! We have to drop our shields to beam in and out!"

"That's stupid!" Ichika yelled, pausing to pick up Houki after a particularly close explosion knocked her off her feet.

"You don't say!" I yelled back. "Now shut up and let's get out of here!"

We quickly piled into the room we arrived in, and Carter immediately went to work trying to beam us out. After several seconds with nothing happening, it was clear something was wrong.

"Carter! What's the hold up!" O'neill yelled, clearly frustrated.

"A power relay got hit, there's no way to beam out from this location. We can try another location, and it should work!" She replied.

"Bridge, this is O'neill. The beaming room we were going to use lost power. What's the nearest working room?" He yelled over the radio.

"_SG-1, THIS IS THE XO, WE CAN NOT BEAM YOU OUT AT THE MOMENT. WE NEED TO RAISE OUR SHIELDS AND FIGHT, OR ELSE WERE ALL GOING DOWN TO EARTH THE HARD WAY_." Came the response from the radio. "_I SUGEST YOU MOVE IN-SHIP. THERES A BEAMING ROOM LOCATED JUST OUTSIDE THE BRIDGE. HEAD THERE AND AS SOON AS WERE DONE UP HERE WE'LL BEAM YOU BACK DOWN_."

"Rodger that!" O'neill replied. "Let's go boys and girls. Don't want you dying on me. It's a horrible mess of paperwork."

**AND THAT'S CHAPTER 7 EVERYONE!**

**James: You really went with 'Insert Chapter Name Here' as the chapter title?**

**Yup. And I kept my word, you didn't get thrown into a pit of fangirls again!**

**James: I'm still not trusting you.**

**Very smart! Now then, on to the important stuff, namely the description for the OC characters that YOU, the fans, will hopefully bestow upon me.**

**First off, I need a proper description of their appearance. How do they dress, what race are they, are they Jaffa or human, or are they Asgard or some other race. Are they Chinese in decent, or are they Native American and so forth. This includes their physical description as well, are they more athletically toned, or are they scrawny, do they have a beard or are they bald.**

**THEN, give me a description of how they act and think. Are they the gruff, drill instructor, are they the silent but smart type, or are they the energetic and a few bricks short of a house type. Anything goes, I just need to know so I can properly write them.**

**ALSO, give me some back story on them. Do they have a family? Are they doing what they do out of some sense of pride or duty? Was their family killed off by some disease or are they the lone survivor of some world ravaged by the goa'uld.**

**LASTLY, give me their role. Are they a pilot or an airman, do they work at the SGC or are they an instructor at the academy? Are they simple farmers working on some other world, or are they a high ranked Jaffa or goa'uld, leading armies into battle.**

**To give you guys a bit of a rushed challenge, how about you try and create someone to be the captain of the Sun Tzu. Obviously, since it's a Chinese crewed ship, they need to be Chinese, but other than that it's up to you guys. **

**If your character doesn't get picked, don't worry. They may still be used in the story, since this will likely span YEARS or even SEQUALS. Not that I'm that far in development, but I can see this story going that far.**

**And like I said at the beginning, PM these characters to me. Let's leave the review section to reviews… even though it has been rather quiet lately, I still want it as just what it was intended for.**

**AND FOR CHRISTS SAKE PEOPLE, PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW. IM GLAD I HAVE SOME LOYAL REVIEWERS, BUT I KNOW THERE'S MORE OF YOU OUT THERE READING THIS STORY THAN JUST THREE PEOPLE.**

**Rant over now, I hope you all have a great day!**


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